After Bolt d’Oro captured the Del Mar Futurity and Moonshine Memories won the Del Mar Debutante, their half-siblings fetched $250,000 and $750,000, respectively, at the Keeneland September yearling sale, thanks to those Grade 1 catalog updates.
Those price tags will look like bargains if Bolt d’Oro and Moonshine Memories complete unbeaten seasons. They are expected to start as favorites in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies.
Medaglia d’Oro has made his mark as an outstanding filly sire - and that’s no knock.
For all his accomplishments, one has been elusive for classic sire Malibu Moon. The Spendthrift Farm stalwart has not yet been represented by a Breeders’ Cup winner, with his best finishes two fourth-place efforts from 19 progeny starts at the event.
Ribchester will travel from England to have his career finale in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, his owner, Godolphin, announced Thursday morning. Ribchester was one of 21 pre-entrants in the BC Mile, but his connections did not immediately commit him to the race, as trainer Richard Fahey monitored the way Ribchester had exited a second-place finish Saturday in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2017: Pre-entries, odds, comments, and more
Blackjackcat was part of the Breeders’ Cup show at Santa Anita last year. About 40 minutes after Beholder and Songbird finished a nose apart in the BC Distaff, Blackjackcat was third by a half-length in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby in the day’s final race.
A year later, Blackjackcat has a greater role in the Breeders’ Cup program Nov. 4 at Del Mar. The 4-year-old gelding has gone from a bit player in a supporting race to California’s leading hope in the BC Mile.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf will be contested in Southern California with a very European feel.
Eight of the 14 horses in the race’s main body are European shippers, and overseas horses figure to rule the top of the betting market. U S Navy Flag is the 3-1 favorite on Daily Racing Form handicapper Brad Free’s early line for the race, and Euro shippers also occupy the next five positions on Free’s line. Behind U S Navy Flag on the line come Masar, Nelson, James Garfield, Beckford, and Mendelssohn.
There was sentiment afoot last summer that Del Mar management should open its training facilities as soon as possible once the leaves began to turn, in an effort to give stables the option of early training over the Breeders’ Cup landscape.
So they did. The track opened Monday, fully staffed with outriders, clockers, and emergency vehicles. The maintenance crew had the main course groomed like a Westminster poodle, while the quarantine barns were done up for the Europeans like a spread in Better Homes & Gardens.
DEL MAR
Weather: Clear
Temp.: 62
Track: Fast
DEL MAR, Calif. – After spending training hours Wednesday morning at Del Mar, I find it hard to imagine that in less than one week more than 150 of the world’s best horses will have converged on this track to compete in the Breeders’ Cup.
DEL MAR, Calif. – As expected, the field for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint will be a small but select one once again in 2017, a group that includes defending champion Drefong.
Only 11 horses were pre-entered for the six-furlong Sprint, seven of them Breeders’ Cup Challenge race winners. Two of the 11, Practical Joke and B Squared, have given first preference to the Dirt Mile and Turf Sprint, respectively, and are not expected to start in the Sprint.
As dominant as Bolt d’Oro has been in his first three starts, he won’t lack for challengers in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.
Twelve horses – including three maidens – were pre-entered against Bolt d’Oro for the Juvenile, including two from the powerful barn of Ireland-based trainer Aidan O’Brien, though one of his is likely to run in the Juvenile Turf instead.
