For an international race, American stables have dominated the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, winning 11 of 14 runnings since its inception in 2008.
This Friday and Sunday, three stakes at Aqueduct, Keeneland, and Santa Anita will help determine the depth of the U.S.-based team for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The home team may need strength in numbers.
The pecking order for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1 at Del Mar could be sorted out this weekend with three Win and You’re In challenge races for the division.
The Alcibiades on Friday at Keeneland is led by top prospect Immersive, while the Frizette on Saturday at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet lured North America’s fastest 2-year-old filly on Beyer Speed Figures in Senza Parole. The Oak Leaf on Saturday at Santa Anita was expected to draw Tenma, an unbeaten Grade 1 winner for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
The Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is shaping up as an international clash worthy of the event’s “World Championships” moniker.
On one side of the Atlantic reigns Cogburn, who has been untouchable in the United States this year, including a record-smashing performance in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes. From the other side of the ocean comes Bradsell, unbeaten in three 2024 starts, including a pair of Group 1 races. They are expected to converge in the five-furlong race, which typically draws a large field.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - By virtue of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct, Far Bridge likely stamped himself as North America’s top threat in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Mufasa, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Vosburgh Stakes at Aqueduct, will likely be pointed to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile rather than the $2 million Sprint, trainer Ignacio Correas said Sunday. Both races are scheduled for Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Correas said it is likely Mufasa will be pre-entered in both races.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Tapit Trice began his 4-year-old campaign with a performance that signaled he could be a factor in the older male dirt division. Then came the Jockey Club Gold Cup in which, after sitting what appeared to be a beautiful trip, he didn’t go on and finished a disappointing fourth.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita’s parent company spent buckets of money on Saturday’s program to lure a younger audience to the track for a big day of racing.
Turns out an older dude was one of the stars of the show.
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, 59, won two major stakes – the Grade 2, $750,000 Eddie D. Stakes on the hillside turf course on First Peace, and the Grade 1, $1 million California Crown aboard Subsanador.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita had its largest ontrack crowd since April, and second highest of the year, when 21,812 attended Saturday’s California Crown program.
The day featured enhanced purses for three major stakes, financed by the track’s parent company, 1/ST Racing, as well as several musical acts and food promotions.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Javier Castellano will not return to race-riding this week as originally planned, his agent, P.J. Campo, said Sunday.
Castellano, attempting to come back from a fractured hand suffered in late August, was given clearance to return to riding but, after breezing horses Saturday morning at Belmont Park, Castellano did not feel 100 percent and will not ride Donegal Momentum in Thursday’s $135,000 Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct. He did not accept mounts for Friday at Aqueduct or for Saturday at Keeneland as was planned.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Flying Connection was scratched from the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita after track veterinarians reviewed a recent PET scan of the 4-year-old filly and would not allow her to start.
A multiple stakes winner listed as second choice in the Zenyatta, Flying Connection’s 7 for 17 career might be over. Frustrated trainer Todd Fincher disagreed with the veterinary evaluation.
“She jogged great (Sunday) morning and the HISA vet passed her,” Fincher said. “She’s sound. I know her very well.”
