ARCADIA, Calif. – There was a definite chill in the air Wednesday morning at Santa Anita, where the temperature struggled to get out of the 40s for much of the morning. But the unseasonably cold weather was tempered some by all the action heating up on the racetrack, with the majority of this year’s Breeders’ Cup contingent out to train over all three surfaces, including the turf course, which saw its first major flurry of activity Wednesday morning.
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DRF Past Performances
The Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic
1 1/4 miles, dirt, 3-year-olds and up
Santa Anita, Race 12
Saturday, Nov. 2, 5:44 p.m. PT
Unlike in most prior years, this Breeders’ Cup Classic is unlikely to decide Horse of the Year honors, as none of the competitors have distinguished themselves as front-runners for that award. Yet, division titles are still up for grabs among the 3-year-olds and the older horses. McKinzie will be the favorite to win this Classic, but he’s hardly scaring anyone away in what amounts to a wide-open edition of this race.
ARCADIA, California – Given his pedigree, it should come as no surprise that Joseph O’Brien this week at Santa Anita has a chance to go where no Breeders’ Cup horse person ever has gone before.
O’Brien already is the youngest jockey with a Breeders’ Cup winner, having piloted St Nicholas Abbey to victory in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Friday or Saturday, O’Brien, now 26, could become the youngest trainer with a Breeders’ Cup winner. Craig Dollase was 26 when he won the BC Sprint with Reraise.
Wed, 10/30/2019 - 14:46
ARCADIA, Calif. – The connections of Maxfield believe their Grade 1-winning 2-year-old has a bruised right front foot, which is why he was scratched Tuesday from Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.
“That’s how we’re proceeding at this point,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Godolphin USA. Godolphin owns Maxfield. “That would be the best of bad news.”
Wed, 10/30/2019 - 13:06
ARCADIA, Calif. – Omaha Beach is trying to make up for lost time.
His campaign this year included a six-month gap that took him out of all the Triple Crown races, affording him just one start since his victory in the Arkansas Derby in April. That’s why on Saturday at Santa Anita he’s in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, rather than the $6 million Classic, but it seems no matter where he ended up, he was going to be a major player.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stormy Liberal is a two-time defending Breeders’ Cup winner and an Eclipse Award champion, but you’re not hearing him mentioned in the same breath with the legends of the game.
Instead, Stormy Liberal once again will be widely dismissed by horseplayers Saturday at Santa Anita when he tries to win the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint for a third straight time.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown never has won the Breeders’ Cup Mile. The several owners of Uni bet $100,000 that he can this year.
It’s not a straight-up wager, and Uni can make back the money just by finishing fourth, but Uni, not an original Breeders’ Cup nominee, was made eligible to the Mile with a $100,000 supplemental nomination fee in early October.
The major Kentucky mixed sales in early November annually ride the wave of the Breeders’ Cup, with fillies and mares coming directly from the races to the sales, perhaps with major catalog updates, to be sold as racing or broodmare prospects. This year’s contingent making the trip from Santa Anita to Lexington, Ky., is headlined by Breeders’ Cup Distaff favorite Midnight Bisou, unbeaten on the season and expected to trigger a multi-million dollar bidding war.
ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s 2-year-old Friday at the 2019 Breeders’ Cup and, boy, do the overseas folks want a piece of the action. The Juvenile Fillies Turf and Juvenile Turf Sprint are packed with Europeans.
Let’s keep a couple things in mind. While there are more long-distance racehorses in Europe than America, they campaign their 2-year-olds over shorter distances than we do. Because a horse has been kept to six- and seven-furlong races does not mean his connections believe he’s a sprinter.