Eight Rings goes for brass ring in Breeders' Cup Juvenile

As a four-time winner of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, trainer Bob Baffert certainly knows the type of colt it takes to win the race. In Eight Rings, Baffert believes he has a colt that can give him his record-tying fifth victory in the Juvenile.

“I think he’s a special colt,” said Baffert, whose four wins in the Juvenile are one shy of fellow Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “I’ve seen him do things in the mornings the good ones do. They don’t get tired, they do it effortlessly, he goes around there like nothing. He handles it well.”

Eight Rings, a son of Empire Maker, has won 2 of 3 starts. The only mistake he’s made came soon after the start of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity when he ducked in, bumped another horse, and lost his rider. Fortunately, he was none the worse for wear and came back 25 days later to win the Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita by six lengths. He wore blinkers for the first time in that race.

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“He probably doesn’t need them, but after he did that move, I didn’t want to take any chances,” Baffert said. “I remember Empire Maker used to run in blinkers. For Bobby Frankel to put blinkers on a horse he must have thought he had tendencies to be a little quirky.”

Eight Rings is named after the number of Super Bowl rings won by football coach Bill Belichick.

Eight Rings will be the only member of the Juvenile field with a win over the Santa Anita surface. While that might give him a slight edge, Baffert sees this Juvenile as a race high on quality, acknowledging Dennis’ Moment and Maxfield as leading contenders.

“I think it’s going to be a really tough Juvenile,” Baffert said.

Twelve 2-year-olds were pre-entered Monday for the Juvenile, though four have listed other races as their first preference. Of those four, King Neptune did get into the body of the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Billy Batts was expected to draw into the Juvenile Turf from the preference list. Anneau d’Or and Full Flat are unlikely to draw into their preferred races and would both be trying to dirt for the first time in the Juvenile if they start.

In 2016, the most recent Breeders’ Cup to be held at Santa Anita, trainer Dale Romans finished second in the race with Not This Time. This year, he has Dennis’ Moment, who is coming off a strong victory in Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs.

Maxfield, who made an eye-catching run to victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, is the other major contender in this year’s Juvenile.

The eight confirmed runners for the Juvenile, with riders, are: American Theorem (Tiago Pereira), Dennis’ Moment (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Eight Rings (John Velazquez), Maxfield (Jose Ortiz), Scabbard (Mike Smith), Shoplifted (no rider), Storm the Court (Flavien Prat), and Wrecking Crew (Paco Lopez).