ARCADIA, Calif. - Imperial Hint will be scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. said Saturday morning.
Carvajal said Imperial Hint developed a blister on his coronet band, at the top of his hoof, that was sensitive to the touch when examined by state veterinarians.
“The horse has been training well,” said Carvajal. “When the vets watched him on the track he looked good, but the area is sensitive to the touch.”
Midnight Bisou, the favorite for today's Breeders' Cup Distaff, will be withdrawn from next week's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale and will continue to race in 2020, majority owner Jeff Bloom said Saturday morning.
"We appreciate the professionalism and hard work of Fasig-Tipton and [consignor] Elite Sales," Bloom said in a tweet. "Now on to today's Breeders' Cup!"
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three longshot winners in Friday’s pick six sequence, capped by Storm the Court’s 45-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, produced a $489,379 carryover into Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup card at Santa Anita.
No one picked six in a sequence spanning races that included victories by Tap Black at $30 in race 4, Four Wheel Drive at $5, Structor at $12.60, British Idiom at $7.40, Sharing at $29.60, and Storm the Court at $93.80. Five winners paid $2,878.70 on a $1 ticket, the bet’s base amount.
Wagering on the five Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday at Santa Anita Park in Southern California set a record for the Friday slate and was up 9.4 percent over handle on the same five races last year, according to charts of the races.
Total wagering on the five races, including all horizontal bets ending in Breeders’ Cup races held on the 10-race card, was $41.71 million, according to the charts, up from $38.14 million on the five Breeders’ Cup races held last year at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
ARCADIA, Calif. – In a race where the favorite stumbled and the second choice faded in upper stretch, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita was going to come down to a pair of longshots.
Storm the Court, the second-longest shot in the eight-horse field at 45-1 had set all the pace under Flavien Prat. Anneau d’Or, a 28-1 shot was an up-close third and looked poised to make a big run in the lane under Breeders’ Cup rookie Juan Hernandez.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sharing was given an unconventional schedule of races in recent months in preparation for Friday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Fillies at Santa Anita.
Her winning performance under jockey Manny Franco was every bit of what was expected from a sentimental trainer in Maryland-based Graham Motion.
The win gave Motion his fourth career victory in a Breeders’ Cup race. His second was the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Shared Account, the dam of Sharing.
The five races making up the pick five at Santa Anita on Saturday are quite compelling from a betting standpoint, which is exactly how the Breeders' Cup should be. But while they are difficult to decipher that also naturally means there is value to be had, especially in multi-race exotics, and a winning ticket in this sequence promises to be lucrative. Here's a look:
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stuart Grant said he could “bang on for donkey’s years” after the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday at Santa Anita. He had every right, for the filly who inspired his witty reply, British Idiom, had just won the division’s championship race, completing an unbeaten season that undoubtedly will bring her an Eclipse Award.
“Who doesn’t love a British idiom?” he said of picking a name inspired by some British friends of his.
ARCADIA, Calif. – No one had ever seen an American Pharaoh foal in the Breeders’ Cup, but that’s only because the first ones are just now 2-year-olds.
What racing fans have seen plenty of times – a Wesley Ward-trained 2-year-old leading its field on a merry chase – dovetailed beautifully Friday at Santa Anita with the first-ever Breeders’ Cup appearance of an American Pharoah son or daughter. Four Wheel Drive, a bay colt sired by the 2015 Triple Crown winner, led every step of the way in the Grade 2, $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint, the first of 14 BC races here this weekend.
