ELMONT, N.Y. - Expectations have certainly changed for You since her career began nearly five months ago.
Entered in a claiming race for a price tag of $50,000 in her debut, You enters Saturday's $1 million Juvenile Fillies as one of the heaviest favorites on the World Thoroughbred Championships card at Belmont Park. You will have eight challengers in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The devastating ease with which Officer has won his first five starts makes him the overwhelming favorite for Saturday's $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park.
But that same devastating ease has left some to wonder how Officer will react when he finally faces some resistance to his thus-far invincible power. That resistance could come from almost any of his 11 rivals in the 18th and perhaps deepest running of the Juvenile. The field, which consists of five unbeaten horses, has combined to win 18 stakes from 48 starts.
ELMONT, N.Y. - There are few throwouts in Saturday's $1.14 million Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park.
From a field of 13, the race features the top turf milers from the United States - Affirmed Success, Forbidden Apple, Val Royal, and Irish Prize; Numerous Times, the unbeaten star of Canada, and a two-horse invading party of Bach and Noverre from Europe.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Fantastic Light has changed remarkably in the year since he ran a close fifth in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs.
Gone are the occasional poor performances, replaced by a consistent streak of first- and second-place finishes in several of Europe's top races over 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When John Gaines conceptualized the Breeders' Cup nearly two decades ago, he envisioned a race like Saturday's Distaff at Belmont Park. No 3-year-old filly has clearly demonstrated her superiority in that division this year. Similarly, no older filly or mare has been dominant. So, two championships are at stake in this year's Distaff, and that is why it has drawn a near-capacity field of 13.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A division championship is almost certainly on the line, along with a record $1,390,000 million purse, when 12 of the world's best female grass specialists meet in Saturday's third running of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
The Filly and Mare Turf will have a decidedly European flavor, with eight of the 12 starters having been bred and raced overseas.
ELMONT, N.Y. - After a record-shattering performance in last year's $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, Kona Gold tries to become the Sprint's first repeat winner on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Kona Gold, a 7-year-old gelding, is the likely favorite in the outstanding field of 14 sprinters, which includes nine Grade 1 winners. It will be Kona Gold's fourth appearance in the Grade 1 Sprint. In 1998, he finished third and then was second in 1999, before getting the job done last year at Churchill Downs.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas pre-entered Yonaguska and Snow Ridge in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, but his horses did not draw into the Sprint, so they have ended up in Saturday's $100,000-added Sport Page Handicap on the undercard.
Seven sprinters entered the 6 1/2-furlong Sport Page, a Grade 3 race, which will be run about 40 minutes before the first Breeders' Cup race, the $2 million Distaff.
Lukas's runners, the only 3-year-olds in the field, are uncoupled in the wagering.
Autotote Enterprises is now accepting bets on its Breeders' Cup proposition wager, Stable Wars.
Stable Wars offers wagerng on 10 stables, each consisting of three horses and a jockey in Saturday's Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park.
The stable that earns the most points, wins the wager.
First place finishes are worth five points; second, three points; and third, one point.
Win, exacta and trifecta wagering is offered.
The 10 stables and the morning line odds for Stable Wars are:
ELMONT, N Y - After watching the world's greatest trainers put the finishing touches on their Breeders' Cup hopefuls during training hours in the final days leading up to Saturday's World Thoroughbred Championships one conclusion is certain. No two do it alike. Fast works, slow works, turf horses working on dirt, dirt horses working on turf, open gallops, slow jogs going the right way and the wrong. You name it and we saw it all here during an eight-day span that featured unseasonably warm weather and near perfect track conditions on both Belmont Park's main and turf courses.