Superfectablog v3.0 » Breeders’ Cup

Goldikova Back With A Bang

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:22:00 +0000

Goldikova (l) does her winning thing

Last year, Goldikova finished seventh in the Prix d’Ispahan, her yearly debut; it seemed that the extra furlong and soft going were not to her taste. There were no such questions this year – the 5-year-old mare set a new stakes record in the same race, capturing her eighth G1 victory. It was a narrow margin, to be sure, over the up-and-coming Byword, but the rest of the field (including Stacelita, who may need to regain some conditioning) was some distance back. While a threepeat in the Breeders’ Cup Mile is her goal this year, her next race could be nearly as starry – she is being pointed to the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, potentially taking on Paco Boy and Rip Van Winkle.

While the Breeders’ Cup is a long way away at this point, other Europeans to keep an eye on were in action last weekend – 3-year-old Richard Hannon-trained Canford Cliffs was impressive in the Irish 2000 Guineas, while Ballydoyle has another strong group of colts, headed by Jan Vermeer (impressive winner of the Gallinule Stakes) and St Nicholas Abbey. The 3-year-old filly ranks look equally strong (or, perhaps, stronger – at least, in France) with the green-but-promising Sarafina just besting Deluxe in the Prix Saint-Alary. Both fillies may head to the Prix de Diane in June – and we may see one or both of them in the Breeders’ Cup at some point.

Given the somewhat scattered picture our own 3-year-olds paint, perhaps more overseas horses will consider heading to Churchill Downs this year – why not take the opportunity to show it can be good breeding and a lack of medication that win big races, rather than an affinity for Santa Anita? I’m of the opinion that the track surface played a smaller role than widely assumed in the European domination of the last two Breeders’ Cups, and would love to see that put to the test this fall. Of course, we have plenty of racing to look forward to before that point – but it’s always worth watching what’s going on abroad.

Here in the US, NYRA got a loan, which should keep things running for a while – and the Met Mile is on tap for the long weekend…in the meantime, why not celebrate Irish-bred Goldikova’s continued magnificence by purchasing The Divine Comedy’s new album, Bang Goes The Knighthood, out on the 31st?

Zenyatta, Personal Ensign and Peculiar Preps

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:17:58 +0000

The only predictable result all weekend

Given the frankly puzzling results of the previous weekend’s Derby preps, it is much more pleasant to focus on Zenyatta’s latest victory in the Apple Blossom. Once again, the great mare turned in an effortless performance; the fact that it was her first effort on dirt since she secured her initial G1 win (in the 2008 Apple Blossom) made no difference to her – if anything, she looked even more dangerous on the surface. One hopes that the plan to visit a number of other tracks outside California this year in her march to the Breeders’ Cup comes to fruition; the Stephen

Foster at Churchill Downs is being mooted as her possible next start, depending on weight assignments. It would certainly be an interesting spot, but I would love to see her in something on Belmont day – the Acorn would be a nice walkover for her, but I’d be curious to see her on the turf as well – the Manhattan Handicap would be an interesting test. In any event – Zenyatta, please come to the east coast – we’d love to have you high-step and bow here.

There was a certain symmetry to Zenyatta’s latest triumph coming just hours after the death of the legendary Personal Ensign; while Zenyatta’s perfect record surpassed Personal Ensign’s own a few races ago, there was a feeling of torch-passing. And I still believe the three finest Breeders’ Cup performances in history came from three fillies: Personal Ensign and Winning Colors in the 1988 Distaff, and Zenyatta in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. The boys have come close with Sunday Silence, Easy Goer and Alysheba, but when it comes to most memorable Breeders’ Cup races, the girls still have it. Let’s have more.

It is difficult to shower anyone with praise in the aforementioned Derby prep races – the Blue Grass was dominated by horses who like turf and synthetics, but not the ones you might have expected, while the Arkansas Derby was simply peculiar. First, the Blue Grass – Stately Victor now holds a record, but it’s not for his time – he’s the longest shot ever to win. True, the previous owner of that record, Dust Commander, went on to win the Derby – but that was long before the synthetic surface era. Poor Odysseus (who really should have been in the Arkansas Derby) ended up with a bone chip and will be out for a few months, while other formerly-likely Derby starters ran themselves out of the graded earnings game – and let in a few horses who (in the absence of further evidence of a liking for traditional dirt) will be bringing up the rear on Derby day. While Mine That Bird demonstrated that, in the words of Del Amitri, ‘even long shots make it,’ it doesn’t happen that often in the big race.

As for the Arkansas Derby, at least we know these horses can run on dirt – but whether winner Line of David can repeat is a very open question. Favored Noble’s Promise experienced quite a bit of bumping and bad luck, coming out of the race with multiples cuts and a lung infection, but hopefully the talented colt can recover by Derby time. Super Saver and Dublin both looked reasonable in the race, which could serve as a useful prep, but it was a very unusual result, however you look at it.

Oh, and the Union won their first home game. Thanks again to the Seattle Sounders for leaving Sébastien Le Toux unprotected – we were very happy with his hat trick!

Quick Hits

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:32:24 +0000

Come get some.

We’re rather overcommitted here at Superfecta HQ this week, so updates are short and snappy (in theory).

The Breeders’ Cup is still toying with the asinine idea of holding the event at Santa Anita (or perhaps somewhere else, but they really want Santa Anita) forever and ever, amen. I would probably be excited about this if I still lived on the left coast, but as I don’t and certainly cannot afford to travel that far to said event, I hate the concept from both a business perspective as well as from a person convenience one.

Flanders, who famously beat Serena’s Song despite a broken leg, was put down as the result of a paddock accident. Oddly, it seems to have happened a few weeks ago, but the news only got out a few days ago. As ever, it’s hard to keep track of great racemares once they head to the farm (can’t someone in Kentucky make a sweep every few weeks, taking photos of Miesque, Personal Ensign and the like, so that we know what they are up to – even those who have been pensioned?), but it’s unfortunate that no one thought to let her fans know about her fate until several weeks later.

Bill Finley would like Blind Luck to follow the Winning Colors path to the Santa Anita Derby, and perhaps the one in Kentucky. So would I. She’s third on the graded earnings list – take the shot!

One distaffer definitely going against the boys will be Life Is Sweet – she will get to take a step out of stablemate Zenyatta’s shadow by running in the Dubai World Cup. You may recall she has run well in mixed company before, finishing a creditable third (especially given the traffic trouble) in the Hollywood Gold Cup last year. The last horse she finished second to, St Trinians, is also still aiming to take on the boys, but without the long trip to Dubai – she’s on track for the Santa Anita Handicap, despite ‘her curious, crab-like action‘ and uncommercial bloodlines. Both mares are set for good storylines – and, of course, Japanese star Vodka does that sort of thing all the time.

But back to the 3-year-olds – it’s hard to see how Christine Daae will pick up any graded earnings by winning allowance races, but she could meet up with Amen Hallelujah, the impressive winner of the Davona Dale, in the Bonnie Miss. It’s certainly an interesting possibility.

The 3-year-old colt picture did not get much less murkier last weekend; Radiohead proved he can run on real dirt (feel free to insert a joke about ‘fake plastic trees’ here), but beyond that, things are still a mystery. And, quite frankly, they are not (yet) as exciting to watch as the preparations for the Apple Blossom – Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta both continue to work toward their seasonal debuts on March 13th. Let’s hope Santa Anita does not have to cancel another card for rain – we’re going to have enough drama leading up to the race in April as it is…

Epic Fail in the Making?

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:51:00 +0000

The Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors met last week to discuss a long-term strategic plan(!), and while I generally encourage such things, it sounds like the group did not come up with anything particularly earth-shattering – and a few ideas were simply not well thought out by this group largely comprised of older white men (with a few token exceptions). The four points the board agreed on were as follows:

Explore the feasibility of a single permanent host site location for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Establish a new Breeders’ Cup Racing Series in partnership with North American and European racetracks to better define and market the road to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Expand brand marketing and commercial development programs, with an emphasis on digital marketing and social media
Take a new approach to nominations to significantly expand the number of Breeders’ Cup eligible horse

We’ll discuss the first point in considerably more detail below, but the fact that the other three were presented as ‘new’ ideas is a bit surprising (or not, depending on your point of view) – they should have been no-brainers that were adopted long ago. Let’s take the point about establishing a new international racing series – wasn’t that the point of Win and You’re In? I agree that that whole concept could be improved and finessed, but establishing yet another new series will likely cause confusion in the short-term, possibly leading to a watered-down product.

Even if we suppose that careful choices are made to include exciting, relevant races in this ‘package,’ the question of where they would actually be seen immediately comes to mind. Who is paying ESPN to broadcast Royal Ascot, for example? Do we assume the casual fan finds their way to TVG or HRTV (presuming they even receive the channels)? It would seem to me that creating a new racing series is getting ahead of the game – without a firm commitment from a major media outlet, it’s not worth exploring. The fact that it’s limited to the US and Europe is understandable, but I would be much more interested in something that included Japan and Australia – even if our seasons don’t quite match up.

The decision to focus on ‘digital marketing and social media’ sounds like one that was taken about five years ago – but I suppose it’s better late than never. However, it is telling that these seem like Exciting New Concepts to the Breeders’ Cup organization – their somewhat ham-fisted efforts over their ‘social media award’ were not inspiring, even if the intent was good. It’s abundantly clear there’s no one on the board who understands How These Things Work – and that’s unfortunate.

The final issue of expanding nominations makes sense from a business perspective in that it continues to fill the coffers of the Breeders’ Cup organization with nomination fees, which is fair enough – but it would have been considerably more forward-thinking if they had incorporated nomination changes that could keep top horses in training longer (as we’ve discussed here before). If this is truly a long-term plan, it would make sense to think beyond the next five years.

And so back to the single-site idea; before I explain why I think it’s a terrible idea, let’s examine some other opinions. Paul Moran suggests that if there is to be a permanent location, Churchill Downs is the only option, and he makes some good points about the possibility of night racing. And while I would agree with him that choosing the same site two years in a row was misguided, I have less of a problem with the Breeders’ Cup being run on synthetics – I just don’t want to see it every year, although I love to see the European horses do well. Ed DeRosa reports that Santa Anita has already been in talks with the Breeders’ Cup Board – but whether that is a trial balloon or simply a case of having been in contact with the right people as ‘outgoing’ hosts is unclear.

Putting aside the surface questions, I find a single site a very poor idea for a number of reasons. The first is simply the expense of getting fans to the location – I did not go to Santa Anita because I won’t fly across the country for the Breeders’ Cup – and I’m already a fan. When you point out that I did fly across the country a few short weeks later for the MLS Cup, that highlights a separate issue: it was in a place I wanted to go anyway. Churchill Downs suffers from this problem – it’s harder to get a casual fan to fly visit Kentucky, than, say, New York. If a fan is going to undertake the expense of traveling for more than a day trip to the Breeders’ Cup, the track needs to be easily accessible from a major city so that they can make a worthwhile short vacation out of it – and that leaves Arlington, Belmont, Woodbine and Santa Anita in play (although the weather might have other ideas for Arlington and Woodbine).

As an aside, I would lament here that there are not better tracks in more interesting cities – clearly, the Breeders’ Cup is not going to go to Golden Gate Fields, Emerald Downs, Portland Meadows or Philadelphia Park (to name just a few). And while the weather may have been fine this year at Santa Anita, I actually found the Breeders’ Cup at Monmouth Park one of the better I’ve been to – despite the wet, it was nowhere nearly as cold as Belmont can be in November.

The other major problem with choosing a single site is that it eliminates the possibility that it could be held outside the US and Canada at some point – and I’d much rather go to a Breeders’ Cup held somewhere in Europe and make a vacation out of it, over spending a long weekend in Kentucky (and, quite frankly, the airfare would probably be cheaper). If the goal is truly to expand the international nature of the event, taking that option off the table seems an odd move.

It would seem, overall, that the Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors is sorely lacking in creative thinkers – expanding beyond its monoculture should also have been a priority. Maybe next year…

Breeders’ Cup Wrap-up, 2009

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:43:00 +0000

While Zenyatta’s historic win in the Classic seems to eclipse the rest of the two-day event, there were many other interesting storylines – each race stood out in its own way this year.

Marathon
What a fascinating result – nine-year-old Cloudy’s Knight very nearly got there to be the oldest Breeders’ Cup winner on record (and jockey Rosemary Homeister, Jr. would have been only the second female jockey to win a Breeders’ Cup race), but he was run down by three-year-old Man of Iron. The Aiden O’Brien trainee was actually sold just before the race and will be moving to Luca Cumani’s barn, but he proved yet again that like his half-siblings, Rags to Riches and Jazil, his dam’s offspring like to run as long as possible. He will aim for the Dubai Carnival races next. Last year’s winner, Muhannak, was no factor this year, but he also changed hands and will remain in California under the tutelage of Ben Cecil. Man of Iron was the only Ballydoyle horse who ran on Lasix – and their only winner this year.

Juvenile Fillies Turf
Tapitsfly rewarded her backers, professionally taking on Rose Catherine in the stretch. Favored Lillie Langtry came out of the race with a slab fracture, but she should be back after some minor surgery and time off. Tapitsfly gave trainer Dale Romans his first Breeders’ Cup victory – and so far American-based runners are two-for-two in this turf event.

Juvenile Fillies
She Be Wild proved she enjoys running on synthetics, but she and the other top two finishes, Beautician and Blind Luck, will all be aiming for the Kentucky Oaks on conventional dirt. Both the runner-up and third-place finishers had some bad luck during the race, as did wiseguy favorite Biofuel, who got pretty knocked around – luckily, all seemed to have only minor complaints and a few of them may run again before the year is out.

Filly & Mare Turf
Legendary trainer Henry Cecil scored his first Breeders’ Cup win when Midday took the Filly & Mare Turf – and perhaps she will be back to defend her title, as the plan is for her to remain in training next year. It’s an exciting possibility.

Filly & Mare Sprint
Informed Decision gave jockey Julien Leparoux his second Breeders’ Cup weekend win; as expected, it came down to a dogfight between the winner and top-class mare Ventura. We should see Informed Decision next year as well.

Filly & Mare Classic
Without stablemate Zenyatta to waltz past her in the closing strides, Life is Sweet finally had a chance to demonstrate her class – and trainer John Shirreffs plenty of confidence going in to Saturday’s races.

Juvenile Turf
The first Breeders’ Cup race on Saturday’s card went to Pounced; the American-bred, European-based colt had the always-welcome piloting services of Frankie Dettori. Trainer John Gosden (who was based at Santa Anita for many years) snagged his second victory in this race, having won last year with Donativum.

Turf Sprint
California Flag, who had given himself an impromptu workout before the race, proved he suffered from no ill-effects from his adventure. Joe Talamo secured his first Breeders’ Cup win aboard the California-bred speedball, with ‘other’ filly Gotta Have Her getting up for second (the well-traveled Diamondrella didn’t fire on Saturday).

Sprint
Dancing in Silks scored a major upset – and made trainer Carla Gaines the third woman to train a Breeders’ Cup winner in the process. All the ‘big names’ finished off the board, with Gayego getting closest in fourth. Favorites Zensational and Fatal Bullet finished near each other in fifth and sixth, and global star Fleeting Spirit did not seem to take to the surface. It was a fantastic race for longshot bettors!

Juvenile
Upset winner Vale of York gave up-and-coming Godolphin jockey Ahmed Ajtebi his first Breeders’ Cup win. The horse may be pointed to the Kentucky Derby, but he’d be working against history by prepping in Dubai. Bob Baffert trainee Lookin at Lucky was not terribly lucky in the race, but he still finished a respectable second – and seems a more likely Derby contender.

Mile
Goldikova continued to display her brilliance – matching the great Miesque’s back-to-back Mile wins, and she did so by overcoming a difficult post position and not the easiest trip in this year’s installment. It caps a year in which she’s been (mostly) beating up on the world’s best milers and it means she now has seven G1 wins. The suggestion that she could come back next year to aim for a third Mile win was not immediately ruled out – let’s hope it happens. For those who may grumble that it seems unfair to give an Eclipse award to a horse who has made a single US appearance this year, I’d say that’s true – unless it’s Goldikova.

Dirt Mile
Mastercraftsman was billed as unbeatable, but obviously no one told longshot Furthest Land. Followed closely on by perpetual maiden Ready’s Echo and Midshipman, Furthest Land gave Julien Leparoux his third win for this year’s Breeders’ Cup. And Mastercraftsman? He’s retired.

Turf
Another repeat – Conduit did it again. What was perhaps almost as exciting was Presious Passion’s gutsy effort for second in the race – running off like a sprinter at the beginning, yet still managing to get a big slice of the purse. Dar Re Mi also ran a good race for third (overcoming some considerable traffic trouble), and we could see her again next year. Conduit will now retire to stud in Japan, and it’s possible Presious Passion may also head to Asia – but in his case he’d be going to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Vase.

Classic
Did Rip Van Winkle’s feet bother him? Perhaps. But even if he had been in top form, it’s difficult to imagine anyone having beaten Zenyatta on the day, as she was perfection incarnate. It’s easy to overlook the quality efforts put in by both Gio Ponti in second and Twice Over in third, but neither had any sort of chance against the giant mare. Poor Einstein had to check behind the slowing Rip Van Winkle, which essentially took him out of the race, and Summer Bird did not have the best luck but still managed to be a closing fourth. But it was really all Zenyatta – and while the Horse of the Year discussions will go on, they really don’t matter; she’s one of the greatest, and that’s all anyone will remember.

Zenyatta: Your Breeders’ Cup Classic Champion

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Some early press reports -

Racing Post: Zenyatta Makes Breeders’ Cup Classic History
The Age: Remarkable Zenyatta Takes Breeders’ Cup Classic
New York Times: Zenyatta Stuns Males to Win Breeders’ Cup Classic
New York Times: Zenyatta Wins the Breeders’ Cup
The Blood-Horse: It’s All Zenyatta in the BC Classic
Daily Racing Form: Zenyatta Triumphs in Classic
The Guardian: Zenyatta Joins the Immortals with Sensational Win in Breeders’ Cup Classic
The Telegraph: Breeders Cup: Zenyatta provides fairytale finale in $5m Classic
The Times: Breathtaking Breeders’ Cup is all about the girl

Breeders’ Cup 2009: Saturday

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:50:00 +0000

We’ll just go straight in for the commentary – latest updates always on Twitter.

Juvenile Turf
I had Viscount Nelson with Pounced in my exacta, so I won’t be cashing any tickets, but it was a very professional effort by Pounced (with more than a little help from Frankie Dettori). In any event, it’s always fun to see Dettori in the winner’s circle. Lady Serena Rothschild, his owner, reminds me of this:

Turf Sprint
Nice to see Joe Talamo get a Breeders’ Cup win – naturally, I had the other filly, Diamondrella, boxed in my exacta with California Flag – as well as Cannonball, who finished third. Gotta Have Her put in a great run for second, even if she did ruin my ticket.

Sprint
I only had Fleeting Spirit - obviously, she would have done better in the Turf Sprint. Wish I’d had the trifecta for this one! Still, Carla Gaines trains the winner, Dancing in Silks, and I’m all for more female trainers winning Breeders’ Cup races.

Juvenile
Ahmed Ajtebi is having quite a year – he gave Vale of York a great ride.

Mile
GOL-D-KO-VA! Clap, clap, clapclapclap! That’s how it’s done, folks.

Dirt Mile
I had to dash out for that, but I’m glad I didn’t bet it – I’d have had nothing. Really odd result.

Turf
What a great race – Conduit coming back to repeat, just like Goldikova – and fine runs from Presious Passion and Dar Re Mi. At least I got $3 on her – but how exciting to see two champions successfully defend their titles.

Classic
The gate scratch of Quality Road made everything peculiar – but what a result. Zenyatta proved everything and then some – and what great efforts from Gio Ponti and Twice Over as well.

Let Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta share Horse of the Year – who needs the colts?

Breeders’ Cup 2009: Filly & Mare-athon Day

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:09:00 +0000

The Breeders’ Cup is finally upon us; from my vantage point (watching TVG), the weather looks perfect. We’ve had a few scratches – Kera’s Kitten in the Juvenile Turf, and Allegre from tomorrow’s Turf – but at least in the case of the former race, the Ramsey barn has so many talented Kitten’s Joy offspring floating around that they’ve been able to slot Dean’s Kitten in as a replacement.

While it does throw off our analysis a bit for that particular race (scroll down here if you missed any of ‘insights’ into each race), on the whole, we’re sticking with our picks. Any exciting wagering wins will be reported – as will the usual ‘why did I toss him/her out at the last minute?’ wails.

We’ll be following along in real-time (except when day care pickup beckons) and will be posting some notes here, but you can get the most current thoughts on Twitter.

Good luck and safe journeys to all the horses and jockeys – I do apologize for today’s title.

Thoughts -

Marathon
What a fantastic finish – really outstanding efforts from both winner Man of Iron and runner-up Cloudy’s Knight. Here’s something to ponder: imagine what Better Than Honour’s stud fee would be if she were a stallion.

Juvenile Fillies Turf
I’d gone off Lillie Langtry last night after hearing about how she’d been taking to California (not well); Smart Seattle didn’t have a good trip, so I’d draw a line through this one for her, but I’m very glad I threw a last-minute bet on Tapitsfly. I assumed she was going to be close to her morning-line odds, but when I noticed she drifted up, I was very excited. Nice win for the grey filly.

Juvenile Fillies
Well, I did get a piece of the action with Blind Luck’s third – really good effort from She Be Wild. Poor Biofuel did not get the best of it.

Filly & Mare Turf
Should have stuck with my gut – I jumped off Midday before the race. Whoops.

Filly & Mare Sprint
So much for my Sara Louise/Ventura exacta. I had no good reason to ignore Informed Decision, just didn’t like her odds. Handicapping FAIL.

Filly & Mare Classic
Life Is Sweet is pretty sweet on her own. Without Zenyatta to overshadow her, she was a game winner. Careless Jewel just ran off. Nice run from Music Note as well. One wonders if trainer John Shirreffs had any pressure to run his two star mares in different races – it’s always a good idea to spread the risk!

I’m very encouraged by Julien Leparoux’s day so far – I would love to see him win the Classic on Einstein tomorrow. See you then!

Breeders’ Cup 2009: Classic

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:20:00 +0000

#, Horse, Trainer, Jockey, ML odds

1 Mine That Bird, Chip Woolley, C. Borel, 12-1
Perhaps unfairly overlooked; he does have the rail and Bo-Rail.

2 Colonel John, Eoin Harty, G. Gomez, 12-1
Solid runner is flying a bit under the radar.

3 Summer Bird, Tim Ice, K. Desormeaux, 9/2
Gets better and better each time out – can’t wait to see him again next year.

4 Zenyatta, John Shirreffs, M. Smith, 5/2
Her numbers and recent competition are the biggest concern – she looks amazing. Perhaps she just does all she needs to? In any case, it’s great to see her here.

5 Twice Over (GB), Henry Cecil, T. Queally, 20-1
Tough European seems to offer great value here.

6 Richard’s Kid, Bob Baffert, A. Solis, 12-1
The mystery horse; was his shock upset of Einstein the beginning of a pattern? His works have drawn raves.

7 Gio Ponti, Christophe Clement, R. Dominguez, 12-1
Solid, honest horse who happens to beat just about everybody – without garnering much acclaim. Great spot here.

8 Einstein (BRZ), Helen Pitts-Blasi, J. Leparoux, 12-1
He’s got the ability, he just needs the luck – would love to see him (pictured) go out on a win, especially for Pitts-Blasi.

9 Girolamo, Saeed Bin Suroor, A. Garcia, 20-1
Three-race win streak is more G2 level, but he does have talent.

10 Rip Van Winkle (IRE), Aiden O’Brien, J. Murtagh, 7/2
If his foot doesn’t bother him, he wins – if it does, he finishes up the track.

11 Regal Ransom, Saeed Bin Suroor, R. Migliore, 20-1
Came back from a post-Derby layoff with a win in the Super Derby; hard to evaluate where he sits.

12 Quality Road, Todd Pletcher, J. Velazquez, 12-1
Would have preferred to see him in the Dirt Mile – or even the Mile, given his Aussie breeding. Next time?

13 Awesome Gem, Craig Dollase, D. Flores, 30-1
Will he hit the board again? He did in the 2007 edition of this race.

Ideal world: Einstein & Zenyatta DH for first, Gio Ponti takes second, Summer Bird third Picks: Rip Van Winkle, Einstein, Gio Ponti, Twice Over

Breeders’ Cup 2009: Turf

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:15:00 +0000

#, Horse, Trainer, Jockey, ML odds

1 Telling, Steve Hobby, J. Castellano, 20-1
Sword Dancer winner is competitive with American turf runners, if not often in the winner’s circle.

2 Conduit (IRE), Sir Michael Stoute, R. Moore, 7/5
Wins almost every time he does not face Sea the Stars – a worthy returning champion.

3 Red Rocks (IRE), B.J. Meehan, J. Leparoux, 20-1
2007 winner of this race has struggled to find his best form this year.

4 Allegre, Brian Koriner, J. Velazquez, 50-1
Big step up in class; distance may also be a concern.

5 Dar Re Mi (GB), John Gosden, L. Dettori, 3-1
Second to Zarkava last year and beat Stacelita (let’s be honest) – good result in the Arc (pictured).

6 Presious Passion, Mary Hartmann, E. Trujillo, 4-1
Best US-based chance in the race; always gives his all.

7 Spanish Moon, Sir Michael Stoute, K. Fallon, 5/2
Very solid European performer (although American by birth) is a strong threat here.

8 Monzante, Mike Mitchell, R. Bejarano, 30-1
Recent form does not suggest a huge threat here.

Picks: Dar Re Mi, Conduit, Spanish Moon, Presious Passion