ARCADIA, Calif. – The undefeated two-time stakes winner Hey Nay Nay will have his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
Hey Nay Nay, winner of the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2 and the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf on Sept. 7, is nominated for Sunday’s Grade 3 Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf. Trainer John Sadler said on Sunday that the colt will not start in that race by design.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The announcement of pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 22 may be an anxious moment for the people behind Almendares, who finished third in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita last Saturday.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Sunday that he rates Almendares as a candidate for the BC Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1. The race has often drawn an oversubscribed field. On Oct. 22, Breeders’ Cup officials will announce the pre-entries and will present a ranking of candidates in order of preference.
Velocity, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August, recently was diagnosed with an ankle injury that will force her retirement. She is scheduled to be offered at auction at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in Kentucky on Nov. 3.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said Velocity did not require surgery.
If you liked last year’s Breeders’ Cup, chances are you’re going to like this year’s as well.
Not only is the 42nd Breeders’ Cup being held for the second straight year at Del Mar, just outside San Diego, Calif., but five horses who won Breeders’ Cup races in 2024 are expected back to try and repeat in their respective divisions. That quintet includes Classic winner Sierra Leone, Turf winner Rebel’s Romance, Distaff winner Thorpedo Anna, Sprint winner Straight No Chaser, and Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano.
One cost $140,000 as a yearling at Keeneland in 2022, the other $75,000 at the same auction a year later.
With those bargain buys, cousins George Messina and Mike Lee had acquired two fillies in Stellify and Fionn who this fall rate among the best American chances for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The fillies, trained by Brad Cox, have both earned more than $1.4 million this year.
Since its addition to the Breeders’ Cup program in 2008, the Turf Sprint has been a race where fillies and mares regularly take on males, with good results.
Mizdirection (2012, 2013), Belvoir Bay (2019), Glass Slippers (2020), and Caravel (2022) are all females who have landed in the winner’s circle. Additionally, Gotta Have Her (second in 2009), Unzip Me (third in 2010), Reneesgotzip (third in 2012, second in 2013), Lady Shipman (third in 2015), Charmaine’s Mia (third in 2021), and Ag Bullet (third in 2024) have finished on the board.
Three key preps for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint will take place around the country this weekend, and meanwhile, an international contingent also is preparing to depart for Del Mar. But with plenty of moving parts, one of the top choices for the newest race on the block already appears clear.
Who wants to take on Aidan O’Brien?
That could be the query facing the owners and trainers with 2-year-old fillies successful in three prep races in the United States this weekend leading to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
The races represent the domestic playoffs, of sorts, and will determine which runners are sent to Del Mar to take on what has the making of a tremendous team from O’Brien’s powerful Irish stable.
The first thing to know about the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at this relatively early date is that we don’t really know much.
The Pilgrim, the New York prep for the big dance, comes Friday, the Bourbon at Keeneland two days later. Several key overseas races, including the Jean-Luc Lagardere this weekend, have yet to be run, and not for a couple weeks will the overseas contingent come into sharp focus.
The second thing to know about: Ireland-based trainer Aidan O’Brien or England-based trainer Charlie Appleby is probably winning it.
The field for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar will come into sharp focus this weekend with three preps for the 1 1/16-mile race being held across the country.
Tommy Jo, who is the 3-1 favorite on the early Juvenile Fillies line set by Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona, will make her two-turn debut Friday at Keeneland in the Grade 1, $650,000 Alcibiades.
Explora, the early 5-1 second choice for the Juvenile Fillies, will stretch out Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 2, $200,000 Oak Leaf.
