OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Miguel Clement believes Bottas could be his best 2-year-old and the colt’s 2 1/4-length maiden victory on Aug. 23 at Saratoga did little to dispel that notion. Friday, Bottas will have to bring his best when he faces winners for the first time in the Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes at Aqueduct.
ARCADIA, Calif. – No one wants the outside post in a two-turn turf mile. Unfortunately, that is where impressive maiden winner Septembersixtyfour is stuck in the featured seventh race Friday at Santa Anita.
“I’m never thrilled about the nine-hole with a 30-foot rail” setting, trainer Mike Puype said. “If I was inside and saving ground and could get any trip I want, I’d feel more comfortable. But it doesn’t mean he can’t overcome it.”
Three key preps for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint will take place around the country this weekend, and meanwhile, an international contingent also is preparing to depart for Del Mar. But with plenty of moving parts, one of the top choices for the newest race on the block already appears clear.
Who wants to take on Aidan O’Brien?
That could be the query facing the owners and trainers with 2-year-old fillies successful in three prep races in the United States this weekend leading to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
The races represent the domestic playoffs, of sorts, and will determine which runners are sent to Del Mar to take on what has the making of a tremendous team from O’Brien’s powerful Irish stable.
The first thing to know about the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at this relatively early date is that we don’t really know much.
The Pilgrim, the New York prep for the big dance, comes Friday, the Bourbon at Keeneland two days later. Several key overseas races, including the Jean-Luc Lagardere this weekend, have yet to be run, and not for a couple weeks will the overseas contingent come into sharp focus.
The second thing to know about: Ireland-based trainer Aidan O’Brien or England-based trainer Charlie Appleby is probably winning it.
The field for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar will come into sharp focus this weekend with three preps for the 1 1/16-mile race being held across the country.
Tommy Jo, who is the 3-1 favorite on the early Juvenile Fillies line set by Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona, will make her two-turn debut Friday at Keeneland in the Grade 1, $650,000 Alcibiades.
Explora, the early 5-1 second choice for the Juvenile Fillies, will stretch out Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 2, $200,000 Oak Leaf.
The expected clash of a defending winner, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, and a Kentucky Derby winner will make for an intriguing renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Full Serrano, who won last year’s running, is anticipated for the race, as is White Abarrio, who captured the BC Classic in 2023. Mystik Dan, who won last year’s Kentucky Derby, is also being pointed for the Dirt Mile.
Mystik Dan will enter off a gutsy win in the Grade 2 Lukas Classic last Saturday at Churchill Downs.
The complexion of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Sprint changed significantly last weekend with trainer Derek Ryan’s announcement that division leader Book’em Danno would bypass the race and instead head to the farm to await his 2026 campaign. That news was followed over the next 24 hours with victories by Patriot Spirit in the Grade 3 Vosburgh at Aqueduct and Imagination in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, both Win and You’re In races for the $2 million BC Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The expected European shippers for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1 are a diverse cast. They range from a two-time winner of the BC Turf to a gelding who raced over hurdles earlier this year and has yet to win a graded stakes.
Rebel’s Romance, who won the BC Turf at Keeneland in 2022 and at Del Mar last year, will attempt to become the first three-time winner of the richest turf race in the United States. Trained primarily in Britain by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin Racing, Rebel’s Romance won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct on Saturday.
A trainer with a horse in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, the major one-mile contest on Oct. 18 at Ascot in England, recently was quoted saying that the QE II, save for crack miler Field of Gold, was coming up a winnable race this year. Most of the better European milers, he said, seemed to be pointing toward the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
