All of a sudden, it gets very serious.
Saturday is the biggest day of the Belmont Park fall meet with five Grade 1 stakes and a Grade 2 event on the card, and it’s also a huge day at Santa Anita with five Grade 1 races to be decided. And all 11 of these races are Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In events. Serious stuff, indeed. Let’s get to it.
Jockey Club Gold Cup
Proven ability over the distance of 1 3/4 miles is unlikely to become a calling card in American racing anytime soon, and the Breeders’ Cup Marathon has faced something of an uphill battle in its attempt to lure top-class horses since being added for the 2008 program (Can you name the post-time favorite for each of the four runnings to date?).
ELMONT, N.Y. – If the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile were run this weekend, Little Mike would be one of the favorites.
Saturday, Little Mike will try to see where he would fit in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf when he tries 1 1/2 miles for the first time in the Grade 1, $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park.
North America racing fans long ago reached a point of acceptance with regard to homegrown turf talent versus international competition. It’s fairly simple: Our horses – insomuch as there is any sort of patriotic attachment to Thoroughbreds – simply get their heads handed to them when matched with good European runners.
But this year might be different. This year, Wise Dan is racing on grass.
With each of the first three finishers from the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs – Amazombie, Force Freeze, and Jackson Bend – back in training again when the year began, the prospects looked bright for an even more exciting renewal of the Sprint when the fastest horses in the country convened again at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
It’s fair to say that the state of the juvenile sprint division is in disarray. Early-season stalwarts such as Maybe So (fractured tailbone) and Circle Unbroken (ankle surgery) are out for the year, and Grade 2 Saratoga Special winner Spurious Precision was euthanized after fracturing a knee during a workout. Most of the better-regarded 2-year-olds currently in training will prep for berths in more prestigious Breeders’ Cup events like the Juvenile.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A million-dollar turf sprint will be run Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, but the locals won’t know until Friday if they are good enough for the Breeders’ Cup.
A field of 13 entered the Grade 3, $100,000 Eddie D Stakes on Friday, opening day of the Santa Anita autumn meet. It is a six-figure prep race with seven-figure ramifications, and multiple stakes winner Comma to the Top is among the principal starters.
[SANTA ANITA: Get opening-day PPs and watch the full card live]
Given that three of the five runnings of the Juvenile Turf were won by European shippers, it’s probably a good idea to begin your prospect search for this year’s edition by looking overseas. The thing of it is, you can look all you want. Just don’t expect a lot of concrete information, at least not right now.
Proven ability over the distance of 1 3/4 miles is unlikely to become a calling card in American racing anytime soon, and the Breeders’ Cup Marathon has faced something of an uphill battle in its attempt to lure top-class horses since being added for the 2008 program (Can you name the post-time favorite for each of the four runnings to date?).
The undefeated Certify should be heavily favored to win the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile for 2-year-old fillies on Friday at Newmarket in England.
The Fillies’ Mile is a Breeder’s Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, but Certify seems doubtful to show up on this side of the Atlantic this fall. She’s owned by Godolphin, whose racing manager, Simon Crisford, said in an email on Wednesday that outside one potential runner in the BC Marathon, the Godolpin presence at this year’s Breeders’ Cup probably would be confined to North American-based horses.
