ARCADIA, Calif. – Anyone who dreams of a life-changing journey to the races has an idol in Breeders’ Cup trainer Conor Murphy.
Murphy, who starts Dimension in Saturday’s $1 million BC Turf Sprint at Santa Anita, is proof that anything is possible in the world of race betting.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After Shared Belief won his first start at Golden Gate Fields on Aug. 19, 2013, he was transferred to the Hollywood Park barn of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who was informed the horse was for sale. Hollendorfer asked Marty Wygod, who bred and owned Shared Belief, if he could have the first crack at buying the horse.
It sure seems like the 2-year-old grass races with 14-horse fields are the spots to cast a wide net in the Breeders’ Cup Friday pick four, while there is considerably more to go on in the Dirt Mile and Distaff.
I'm assuming the also-eligible horses will be scratched.
JUVENILE TURF: Hootenanny (#5) is a vulnerable morning-line favorite who has never been past six furlongs, and has never run in a turf race with turns. He has obviously got talent - after all, he won the 24-horse Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot - but we’ve got to go deep.
SUNSET GLOW is the deserving 7-2 morning-line favorite, but she has history working against her as the favorite hasn’t won the Juvenile Fillies Turf since it was established in 2008. She also reportedly did not eat up after arriving in California, and trainer Wesley Ward altered her training schedule, missing a planned workout. Daily Racing Form’s Mile Welsch also mentioned she looked listless on the track in one of his clocker reports. Despite her excellent record, she looks vulnerable in what appears to be a wide-open race.
Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (race 6, post 4:21 p.m. Eastern)
A deep search for the true speed in this fascinating renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint finds this conclusion: It should very well be Stonetastic (#3), hurried up the rail by Paco Lopez, followed closely by a trio of mid-drawn runners: Artemis Agrotera (#5), Leigh Court (#6), and Judy the Beauty (#7).
The Breeders’ Cup will be televised on NBC’s networks through 2025 under a 10-year extension to a current agreement, the companies announced Thursday.
The agreement will require NBC and a sister network, NBCSN, to provide eight hours of live coverage of the Breeders’ Cup each year, the announcement said. It includes prime-time coverage of the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2016 and 2017, when the host tracks are Santa Anita and Del Mar, according to a release from the companies.
If it is like father, like son, then the favorite for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, Toronado, is in trouble.
Toronado, among the best milers in Europe last year at 3 and this year at 4, is trained by Richard Hannon Jr. It was only this year that Junior, heavily involved in his family’s hugely successful English training operation for years, took over as the trainer of record from Richard Hannon Sr. Senior found no luck at all with his American runners.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2014 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita is packed with full and wide-open fields, none more so than the $1.5 million Sprint on Saturday. In fact, even trainer Bob Baffert, who sends out defending winner Secret Circle along with the undefeated 3-year-old Indianapolis in the six-furlong Sprint, is at a loss when trying to assess this year’s lineup.
This looks like one of the best Breeders’ Cup Saturdays in recent years, with nine thick and competitive fields and a Classic that figures to live up to the name. But enough small talk:
Juvenile Fillies : I have no argument with 3-1 morning-line favorite Angela Renee. She flew in from New York five weeks ago and won the Grade 1 Chandelier (formerly the Oak Leaf) over Saturday’s track. Wonder Gal has lots of talent and should only improve while stretching out in the division’s top performance. Puca beat nothing in winning a maiden race by 16 lengths but looked good doing it.
