Five trainers have combined to win nine of the last 13 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Those same five trainers – Todd Pletcher, Bob Baffert, Brad Cox, Chad Brown, and Mike Maker – have nine of the 12 2-year-olds pre-entered for this year’s 40th running of the $2 million Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.

Of the 12 pre-entrants, two – Noted and Johannes Brahms – were also pre-entered in the $1 million Juvenile Turf, with that race listed as first preference for both.

Wednesday, Oct. 25
Santa Anita
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 63°
Track: Fast

ARCADIA, Calif. – Arcangelo trained about as well as a horse could train on a regular basis this summer at Saratoga as a prelude to his impressive victory in the Grade 1 Travers. He put the finishing touches on a terrific series of works with an easy, five-furlong maintenance breeze with jockey Javier Castellano aboard 10 days prior to the race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It takes only about a minute and 43 seconds to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but the positive aftereffect lasts decades for trainer Richard Mandella.

Thirty years after Mandella’s first of nine Breeders’ Cup wins, the 1993 Juvenile Fillies with Phone Chatter, the trainer starts an exciting 3-year-old filly Friday at Santa Anita whose pedigree traces directly to Mandella’s first Breeders’ Cup winner.

Specialsortastorm has some family history to uphold Friday night when he takes on stakes winners General Shipman and Sweet Soddy J in the $75,000 Clever Trevor at Remington Park.

The race is a stepping-stone to the $300,000 Springboard Mile in December and Specialsortastorm’s half-brother, Wildatlanticstorm, won that race last year as well as the Clever Trevor.

The Valley View, a Grade 3 worth $300,000 to be run Friday at Keeneland, is the poorer sister to the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, a Grade 1, $600,000 contest won by Mawj on Oct. 14. But there is nothing poor about this renewal of the Valley View, which drew an overflow field of talented fillies.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup Sprint theoretically brings together the fastest Thoroughbreds in the world. But when assessing the pace scenario of this year’s Sprint, handicappers may wonder, “where’s all the speed?”

Paddington’s loss, a 35 1/4-length one to be exact, is the Breeders’ Cup’s gain.

One of the best milers in Europe – some would say no qualifier is required, that Paddington is the best – probably would have been retired or given a break until 2024 had he run to expectations last Saturday in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in England. He decidedly did not. Seeking to end Paddington’s season, if not his career, on a more pleasing note, his connections pre-entered Paddington in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Once again, an overflow cast was pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, a popular race that has had also-eligibles scratched from the program each year since it was added as the newest race on the Breeders’ Cup program in 2018. While at least a few of the currently excluded horses seem likely to make the field, there are likely to again be some horses on the outside looking in when final entries are taken Monday.