Somebody guard the gates. In no small part because of the confounding results of the Flower Bowl Invitational on Saturday, the American contingent for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf suddenly looks vulnerable to another European invasion.
Last weekend's two important Breeders' Cup Sprint preps left little change atop the division but helped create a major shake up among many of the other leading contenders pointing to the Sprint at Belmont on Oct. 29.
As expected, Lost in the Fog dominated the Bay Meadows Speed Handicap to remain undefeated and solidify his role as the heavy favorite for the Sprint.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The purse of the Jockey Club Gold Cup offers one million reasons not to stay in California for the Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap, which also is run on Saturday. The fact that the Gold Cup will be run at Belmont Park, which plays host to the Breeders' Cup four weeks later, is another compelling attraction. But Kristin Mulhall, the trainer of Imperialism, summed it up best as to why so many California-based runners decided to leave town.
"I want to avoid that big monster, Rock Hard Ten," she said.
The two most important prep races for the 2005 Breeders' Cup Sprint will take place on opposite coasts Saturday afternoon. One of those preps is a wide-open Grade 1 race featuring as many as a half-dozen potential candidates for the BC Sprint. The second is an ungraded event offering a mere $100,000 purse that figures to be about as competitive as this week's Monday night drubbing the Denver Broncos gave the Kansas City Chiefs.
ARCADIA, Calif. - He won the biggest race in the country the first half of the year, and now trainer John Shirreffs is hoping to win a race on the most important day of the second half of the year.
Shirreffs, who trains Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, is looking to pull off another upset, this time with Hollywood Story, who will have her prep for the Breeders' Cup Distaff this Sunday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting.
By this point of the year, trainer Bob Baffert usually has a pretty good idea which 2-year-olds he will be running in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Baffert has participated in eight of the last nine Juveniles, having run multiple entries four times and finishing 1-2-4 in 2002.
Mystery Girl would probably have been the second choice in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita. But Christopher Paasch found a spot in which his horse could perhaps be half the price for double the purse money.
Three major races this weekend in California, France, and New York will help determine the field for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 29, with much of the focus on Sunday's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The Arc de Triomphe is expected to have an outstanding field, including Bago, the defending champion; Motivator, the winner of the Epsom Derby; Hurricane Run, the winner of the Irish Derby; and the filly Shawanda.
CHICAGO - Starcraft and Dubawi were hardly secrets before last weekend, but they affirmed their position as the top European challengers to Leroidesanimaux in the Breeders' Cup Mile when they finished one-two in Saturday's Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Newmarket in England.
Trainer Patrick Biancone starts getting a headache when he thinks about how the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont Park will affect the complexion of the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
