Forty Under, by Uncle Mo
Last 3 Beyers: 83-81-39
◗ Lost a lot of ground on the far turn and had to rally into a slow pace and still won a decent-seeming edition of the Pilgrim.
◗ Saratoga maiden race shows he can deploy more positional speed if need be.
◗ Trainer sent him fairly early to Churchill to settle in and work over the turf, and he’s been one of the more appealing horses to watch in the morning.
It’s remarkable, really, how well the European shippers handle traveling to an American racetrack for the Breeders’ Cup. Things are just so much different for them here. At home they do not live at the track, only travelling there and back the day they race. Training takes place at a relaxed rhythm, often out in fields, through forest paths, over hill and dale – not out on a crowded dirt oval filled with strange horses.
NEWSPAPEROFRECORD, by Lope de Vega
Beyers: 88-78
* Trainer Chad Brown won this race two and four years ago with horses on the same pattern – maiden victory at Saratoga, win in the Miss Grillo.
* Already has two wins on yielding turf, and wet conditions shouldn’t bother her
* Forward running style in a race without obvious real speed will keep her out of trouble without leading to a front-end duel
A pick five encompassing the last five Saturday Breeders’ Cup races has been conspicuous by its absence for quite some time. Thankfully (or maybe not – let’s see how we do!), that void was filled this year.
The chances of me not participating in this offering are precisely zero. I will be playing this late Breeders’ Cup pick five, and I’ll play with gusto, because as is the case with almost everything Breeders’ Cup wagering related, the value is there. Big fields and quality depth ensure that even if the results are logical, you’ll still get paid at least reasonably well.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The last time they ran the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs, in 2011, 64-1 shot Court Vision held on by a nose over 11-1 Turallure. Chaos could again rule in Saturday’s Mile here at Churchill.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A year after the top four from the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint finished within a length of each other at Del Mar, that same foursome – plus 10 other grass sprinters – are set for another meeting in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs.
Some notable variables differ this time around. Besides a different host track, the race is longer this year, extended from five to 5 1/2 furlongs, and the turf at Churchill Downs should be softer than the firm course at Del Mar.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the past six years the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf has largely boiled down to a matchup of Chad Brown-trained females from America vs. raiders from Europe. Three times Brown trainees have come on top, three times it was those from Europe.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A year ago, trainer Luis Carvajal came to Del Mar with Imperial Hint, who a lot of people thought could win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. On Saturday, Carvajal comes to Churchill Downs with Imperial Hint, who a majority of handicappers think should win the $2 million Sprint.
The six-furlong Sprint lured a field of nine, including defending champion Roy H.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – She is expected to be the strongest favorite of all in the nine Breeders’ Cup races to be run Saturday at Churchill Downs. She may also have the most to overcome.
Enable, whose 4-year-old season has been interrupted by injury and illness, has brought her top-class European form to the U.S. to try to become the first horse to win France’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same season. Seven Arc winners have lost in the Turf, while an eighth, Sakhee, finished second in the 2001 Classic at Belmont Park.
