ARCADIA, Calif. – Carlos Martin believes the last time he was in California was in 1987 when his father, the trainer Jose Martin, ran Groovy in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Hollywood Park. Only 18 years old at the time, Carlos Martin took Groovy’s fourth-place finish as the 2-5 favorite in the Sprint hard.
“I think I stayed in the hotel room for about three days,” Martin said. “It was just sad the horse got beat. He was such a great horse.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Churchill Downs will build a hotel and casino-gambling facility along the track’s first turn, along with new permanent seating in the area, the parent company of the Louisville track announced late on Wednesday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Dispute if you want the “Championships” part of “Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships,” but there’s undeniable truth in the “World” part of it.
There are 19 overseas horses, hailing from Korea, Japan, Ireland, England, and France, entered to compete in Saturday Breeders’ Cup races. The overseas invaders have legitimate chances in all the day’s turf races save the Turf Sprint, so let’s have a look at them race by race.
Turf
ARCADIA, Calif. – A widely varied wagering menu and guaranteed pools await horseplayers in the 36th Breeders’ Cup this weekend at Santa Anita. Those offerings include:
◗ Three two-day daily doubles ($1 minimum) linking the following races: Juvenile Turf (race 6, Friday) with the Turf (race 11, Saturday); Juvenile Fillies (race 7, Friday) with the Distaff (race 10, Saturday); and the Juvenile (race 9, Friday) with the Classic (race 12, Saturday).
◗ A $1 pick six on races 4-9 Friday and races 7-12 Saturday.
Average daily handle at the recently completed Monmouth Park meet in Oceanport, New Jersey, rose slightly compared to a shorter meet last year, according to figures distributed by the track on Wednesday.
All-sources handle at the Belmont Park 2019 fall meet was $274,929,718, a 2.2 percent increase over the 2018 Belmont fall meeting, according to figures released Wednesday by the New York Racing Association.
Meanwhile, ontrack handle was $32,523,572, a 2.6 percent decline from the figure of $33,396,906 recorded a year ago.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Breeders’ Cup will have a team of 30 veterinarians monitoring the condition of horses participating in the races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday, an increase from 24 the last time the event was held at Santa Anita in 2016.
Speaking at an hour-long press conference at Santa Anita on Wednesday morning, Deborah Lamparter of the Breeders’ Cup veterinary teams said inspections had been completed on more than 90 percent of the horses entered in Breeders’ Cup as of Wednesday morning, and the team planned to complete inspections by Thursday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – If you’re a fan of 2-year-old racing, TGIF.
For the second straight year, the Breeders’ Cup has cleverly packaged its 2-year-old races on one afternoon, with the five juvenile races on Friday at Santa Anita kicking off a two-day festival that will be keenly watched for both racing and safety.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There was a definite chill in the air Wednesday morning at Santa Anita, where the temperature struggled to get out of the 40s for much of the morning. But the unseasonably cold weather was tempered some by all the action heating up on the racetrack, with the majority of this year’s Breeders’ Cup contingent out to train over all three surfaces, including the turf course, which saw its first major flurry of activity Wednesday morning.
ARCADIA, California – Given his pedigree, it should come as no surprise that Joseph O’Brien this week at Santa Anita has a chance to go where no Breeders’ Cup horse person ever has gone before.
O’Brien already is the youngest jockey with a Breeders’ Cup winner, having piloted St Nicholas Abbey to victory in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Friday or Saturday, O’Brien, now 26, could become the youngest trainer with a Breeders’ Cup winner. Craig Dollase was 26 when he won the BC Sprint with Reraise.
