With the Breeders’ Cup returning to the same stage as 2012, the sights and sounds of last year’s competition linger. None is more vivid than the victory of Fort Larned in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the stories that trailed in his wake.
ARCADIA, Calif. – For the past three years, Game On Dude has ranked as one of the best older horses in the country. But like the Buffalo Bills teams that went to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s and lost them all, Game On Dude has yet to win the one event that would finally bring him an elusive championship.
In 2011, at an overlooked 14-1, Game On Dude led the Breeders’ Cup Classic until deep stretch at Churchill Downs but was passed by Drosselmeyer, costing Game On Dude the title of champion older male and perhaps Horse of the Year.
Thirteen 2-year-olds will line up for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Friday at Santa Anita Park, in which morning-line favorite Bobby's Kitten could help cap off a huge year for sire Kitten's Joy with a victory.
A closer look at the pedigrees and backgrounds of the contenders, in post position order.
1. All Cash
English Channel – Andover the Money, by Dynaformer
Breeder: Bluegrass Hall (Ky.)
A full field of 14 2-year-old fillies, including Grade 1 winner My Conquestadory and European Group 1 winners Vorda and Chriselliam, will contest the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Friday at Santa Anita Park.
Below is a closer look at the individual pedigrees and backgrounds of the contenders, in post position order.
1. Nesso
Roman Ruler – Devotedness, by Anet
Breeder: Donald Dizney (Fla.)
DRF Breeding staff writer Joe Nevills analyzes each race of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup World Championships in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
Friday, Nov. 1
Marathon
Close eyes, throw a dart
Indian Jones whips the field
But watch for Worldly
Juvenile Turf
Lots of ways to go
But when in doubt, just default
To the Ramsey horse
Human brains are wired to best remember the first and, even more so, the last in a series of events.
Only a handful of people remember the first race of Wise Dan’s 26 starts, a fifth-place finish at Turfway Park in February 2010. But as Wise Dan prepares to defend his Breeders’ Cup Mile title, the last event in his racing career is the one scrolling across the screen of many minds.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Barry Irwin didn’t buy Mexikoma with the expressed intent of running him in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But there Irwin was Wednesday morning at Santa Anita, where he watched his 2-year-old colt work four furlongs in 49.72 seconds over the dirt in preparation for Saturday’s $2 million Juvenile.
“He’s immature. He’s going to be so much better next year,” said Irwin, president of Team Valor International.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Speed and the ability to harness it is a lethal combination.
They are what make Artemis Agrotera and Untapable seemingly the two most dangerous horses in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita, a race that most likely will crown the champion 2-year-old filly of 2013.
The Juvenile Fillies, run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns, is the first of nine Breeders’ Cup races to be run on Saturday. The field contains seven graded stakes winners and three-time Florida Stallion Stakes winner Scandalous Act.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Two of the biggest upsets in the history of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile occurred at Santa Anita, where on Saturday the 30th renewal of the race will be run, the eighth time for a purse of $2 million.
One of those upsets was recorded by Action This Day, a horse owned by B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm who in 1993 came out of a maiden race four weeks earlier to upset the Juvenile at odds of 26-1.
