Two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal has been the king of the Keeneland turf course. This month, he will prepare to defend that home turf against Highfield Princess, a serious threat to his crown as she is expected to travel from Europe for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Golden Pal is the 5-2 early favorite for the Nov. 5 Turf Sprint on the line of Daily Racing Form’s Brad Free. Highfield Princess is 3-1.
Take the undisputed leader of the male sprint division, Jackie’s Warrior, add his filly counterpart Kimari, and you get the major storyline of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, which will be decided at six furlongs for a $2 million purse on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.
The Group 3 Autumn Stakes and Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket in England, and the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland will help determine the shape of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. But already the likely favorite for the $1 million fixture is no mystery.
Seven times in his career, trainer Bob Baffert has recorded double-digit wins with 2-year-olds at Del Mar’s summer meet. The last three times that happened – 2021, 2018, and 2002 – one of those horses won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
By the time G Laurie had a clear path in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 17 at Woodbine, the race was nearly over. She raced in traffic approaching the stretch and quickened noticeably when running room developed in the final furlong, eventually finishing third.
As frustrating as the result was, the outcome showed Graham Motion that G Laurie fits in the North American 2-year-old filly division, a point the filly can prove when she starts in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4 at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Unlike some of the other Breeders’ Cup lineups already mostly settled, the prospective field for the $2 million BC Juvenile Fillies surely will take some tweaks after a couple of major preps are run Saturday.
The Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Chandelier at Santa Anita both figure to have a major impact on the Nov. 4 BC Juvenile Fillies, the 1 1/16-mile fixture that determines the divisional championship far more often than not.
The champions Ce Ce and Echo Zulu are on course to meet for the first time Nov. 5 in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.
Ce Ce won the seven-furlong race a year ago at Del Mar en route to being crowned champion female sprinter of 2021. Echo Zulu took down the Eclipse Award for outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2021 for her victory in last year’s BC Juvenile Fillies.
They ran out of sausage patties at Clockers Corner last Saturday.
That’s what one of the workers at the famed Santa Anita Park trackside concession stand told John Sadler, the trainer of Flightline, whose presence on the track that morning brought out throngs of interested parties.
“She also said she served more cups of coffee than she ever served,” Sadler said. “I said, ‘You better have more for next weekend.’ ”
