November 6, 2020 
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships return to Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, KY later today and Saturday for the first time since their inaugural running at U.S. racing’s most picturesque site in 2015.
In 14 contests, 170 horses from four continents will compete on dirt and turf for $31 million in prize money, culminating in Saturday evening’s $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, a race that could confer Horse of the Year honors to the winner.
Today is “Future Stars Friday,” a new tradition begun three years ago. The race card features five two-year-old Juvenile matchups. Nine races will be held for three-year-old and older horses Saturday. In addition to the dirt Classic, Longines will also sponsor the $4 million Turf and the $2 million Distaff, the counterpart of the Classic, restricted to the ladies.
Sadly, there will be no fans in attendance at Kentucky’s “Cradle of Racing” due to COVID-19 safety precautions. Happily, several usual prep races were either cancelled or bypassed by trainers this unusual year. That means an unusually fine array of horses have been more lightly raced, are well-rested and in peak condition.
The absence of spectators will result in even more comprehensive television and online coverage (by NBC, NBCSN and TVG; breederscup.com and Yahoo! will stream live) so check your local listings. It will offer a great viewing opportunity for longtime fans mourning the spectator restrictions and a wonderful introduction to the sport for those who are racing-curious or new to the sport’s premier event held in the U.S.
Here’s a brief glimpse of all 14 races beginning with the final and most significant contest on Friday’s Juvenile card.
“FUTURE STARS FRIDAY” (restricted to juveniles)
TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance), $2 million
The winner of this race earns 20 Kentucky Derby points and emerges the early Derby favorite. That writ, the winner has gone on to successfully run for the roses only twice; most recently, Nyquist (2015–16) and Street Sense earlier (2006–07), so save your early wagers.
Jackie’s Warrior at 7-5 is expected to battle his way first to the finish of this 1 1/16- miles around two turns. The Steve Asmussen-trained colt has won all four of his starts, easily taking the Saratoga Special (G2), the Hopeful and the Champagne, both G1 contests. Essential Quality is the 4-1 second choice, but trainer Brad Cox seems able to win racing donkeys these days, so hee haw! Bob Baffert saddles 15-1 Classier, though he’s not expected to be that in this race.
Results:
1. Essential Quality (4-1)
2. Hot Rod Charlie (30-1)
3. Keepmeinmind (30-1)
Favorite Jackie’s Warrior finished fourth.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, $1 million
The Irish love their green, green grass and eight of the full field of 14 hail from the Emerald Isle. Aunt Pearl is Brad Cox’s 3-1 favorite, but there’s a reason most handicappers have day jobs. Don’t look past 4-1 Campanelle. The Wesley Ward charge will be ridden by Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori, who has a way with the ladies—he teamed with Enable. Ward also saddles Royal Approval, not expected to be crowned at 10-1. But rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. is having some kind of year, so…
Results:
1. Aunt Pearl [IRE] (3-1, favorite)
2. Mother Earth [IRE] (20-1)
3. Miss Amulet [IRE] (12-1)
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, $2 million
In the short seven-horse field, Princess Noor rides in from the West out of Bob Baffert’s Cali stable. The 9-5 favorite is a perfect 3-0-0. She’s ridden by Victor Espinoza, fully rehabbed from a serious career-threatening spill last year. When we last saw him at Keeneland, he was riding American Pharaoh to his “Grand Slam” victory in the Classic for Baffert in 2015.
Dayoutoftheoffice clocks in as the 5-2 co-second choice along with Simply Ravishing. Vequist is a distant 8-1, but all four horses are Grade 1 winners.
Go figure how odds are determined.
Results:
1. Vequist (8-1)
2. Dayoutoftheoffice (5-2)
3. Girl Daddy (6-1)
Favorite Princess Noor finished fifth.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (presented by Coolmore America), $1 million
One mile and a full field are featured in this “any-horse-can-win” race. Mutasaabeq at 5-1 is supposed to win for Todd Pletcher after quaffing the Grade 2 Bourbon Oct. 4 on the same course. There are impressive Europeans, the usual case in the turf events. Ryan Moore will guide 6-1 Battleground through the fray for Aidan O’Brien. If you like to choose your winners by their names, there’s Gretzky The Great—yes, he’s Canadian. He takes to the Keeneland rink at 8-1 under Tyler Gaffalione for trainer Mark Casse.
Results:
1. Fire At Will (12-1)
2. Battleground (6-1)
3. Outadore (8-1)
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, $1 million
The day gets underway with a full field. Wesley Ward conditions 8-5 favorite Golden Pal, but he could get a tarnished start from far outside gate 14. The O’Brien-Moore trainer-jockey team prance in Lipizzanner at 20-1. Why mention two horses with very different expectations? Because both are sons of Uncle Mo, which makes these differing race odds a head-scratcher.
Results:
1. Golden Pal (3-1, favorite)
2. Cowan (8-1)
3. Ubettabelieveit [IRE] (20-1)
So there you have it for “Future Stars Friday.” There is little known for certain about these youngsters aside from their mostly spare records, so odds makers’ stars aren’t entirely aligned. Still, that means you can watch them grow up a bit in their Breeders’ Cup races as you might watch all youngsters at play—having fun doing what comes naturally while unburdened by adult expectations.
Okay, you Juvenile fans are excused from class to get ready for the 2 pm Eastern start of today’s races. But be sure to check back…if you back a loser tomorrow, don’t complain we didn’t warn ya!
“CLASSIC SATURDAY”
There were concerns over the past several months that international travel restrictions during the pandemic could result in the diminished number and quality of the fields on Classic Saturday. That didn’t happen as this Saturday’s lineup demonstrates.
Let’s begin at the end again with what is setting up to be a genuinely classic Classic.
Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, $6 million
Bob Baffert’s hand started the strongest of his career at the beginning of the year. It grew weak by the delayed Kentucky Derby day Sept. 5. Now, it’s ironclad. More on Baffert and his “weird” year later today.
Among the 10-horse Classic field, Baffert saddles last year’s disqualified Derby winner, Maximum Security; this year’s surprise Derby winner, Authentic; and four-year-old Improbable, the improbable 5-2 favorite on the strength of a three-race winning streak. The trio drew the statistically challenged three outside posts with Improbable and Irad Ortiz Jr. leaving from gate 8, Authentic and John Velazquez departing gate 9, and Luis Saez taking off aboard Maximum Security from gate 10.
This race was thought to be in the saddlebag of Tiz the Law earlier in the year, but the winner of the Grade 1 Florida Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes was upended by Authentic in the Derby.
The remaining six challengers are hardly claimers. Grade 1 winners include notables Tom’s d’Etat and Global Campaign. Tacitus and By My Standards are Grade 2 winners seeking to exceed their previous standards.
The winner’s share of the $6 million purse will buy a lot of hay and grain, but even more racing history awaits the winner at the finish line. Victory by one of the graybeards puts that candidate in the lead for Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year and Champion Older Horse. A win by Tiz the Law or Authentic does the same for HOY accompanied by the Eclipse as Champion Three-Year-Old.
The field is so high in quality and so evenly matched that virtually everyone sees the outcome riding on the skill of the rider, an optimal trip and, mostly, on that fickle goddess, Racing Luck.
“I have a lot of confidence in my horse, but I have no confidence in the luck,” opines Tiz the Law trainer Barclay Tagg. “There’s a lot that can happen in a race.”
Baffert is equally confident in his runners, suggesting any of his three could win and all three could claim the top three spots. But, he cautions, “they’ve got to get the trip.”
Tom’s d’Etat trainer Al Stall Jr. nods agreement. “It’s going to be a trip race, a luck race. Any eight of the 10 horses could win and I wouldn’t be surprised.”
To get a sense of what a classic Classic looks like, we’ll turn the clock back 10 years to Churchill Downs. Let’s go to the videotape!
Hold on—this one’s gonna be close (the good ones always are)!
Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, $4 million
Enable arrived at Churchill Downs two years ago fresh off her consecutive win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe not even a full month earlier. Magical and trainer Aidan O’Brien came from Ireland seeking to deny Enable the one-two Arc-BC punch that had never been delivered. The pair treated racing fans to one of the finest stretch duels in Turf history with Enable gaining the slight better of her Irish challenger at the finish.
Enable is gone, but Magical is back as the 5-2 favorite in a field that surprisingly offers as much quality on this side of The Pond as has deplaned from usually formidable Europe. Last year’s runner-up, United, was just a head shy of a win over last year’s HOY, Bricks and Mortar.
Despite the absence of the latter this year, the most respect United could earn from oddsmakers was as an 8-1 middle co-choice with Ireland’s Lord North, winner of the Grade 1 Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot. Bill Mott-trained Channel Maker boasts back-to-back Grade 1 wins leaving gate 9. Grade III Kentucky Turf Cup victor, Brad Cox’s Arklow, leaves from rail post 1. Both are 5-1 third choices.
O’Brien still owns the upper hoof with British colt Mogul. The 4-1 second choice after Magical departs from the farthest outside gate 10. Both runners are by prolific sire Galileo. Ryan Moore again gets the ride on the favorite, 2019 Arc winner (Waldgeist) Pierre-Charles Boudot on Mogul.
Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff
Okay, this is the one many fans await each year, often the best of all Breeders’ Cup races. There’s good reason to salivate this year over what looks on paper to be a two-horse matchup.
The 2020 Distaff marks the return of Monomoy Girl after missing all of 2019 plagued by nagging injuries and a bout with often life-threatening colic. She even was retired at one point. Seems she missed beating up on her competition. The Brad Cox-trained daughter of Tapizar is back and formidable as ever, going three-for-three on the year. That makes her 12-2-0 through her career, with only one of those losses on the track, the other a DQ in the 2018 G1 Cotillion at Parx that gave the win to Midnight Bisou. Her only loss on the track was by a head in the 2017 Golden Rod Stakes (G2). Road to Victory owns those bragging rights. Despite leaving from the far outside post 10, she’s been installed as the 8-5 favorite under Florent Geroux based on experience, a sterling lifetime record and that immeasurable quality, heart.
This may not be easy though. The last time we saw this year’s three-year-old darling Swiss Skydiver, she was maintaining a head lead through the stretch run and to victory over Derby-winner Authentic in the Oct. 3 Preakness. She was just off the record time set by Secretariat in 1973 and only the sixth filly to win the Preakness its 145-year history.
Still, she lost by nearly four lengths to colt Art Collector in the G2 Bluegrass on the same track. That may have prompted connection’s decision to run in the Distaff instead of the loaded Classic, for which she qualified based on her Preakness win. Saddled by Ken McPeak under Robby Albarado of Curlin fame, she leaves as the second choice at a cautious 2-1 from a very favorable gate 5. Look for Monomoy Girl to close early and not let the Daredevil daughter get away.
Which filly will show up—the one who beat Authentic by a heart or the one whose heart was broken in the Blue Grass? It will have to be the former to beat the favorite.
Don’t overlook 8-1 third choice Horologist. The four-year-old Gemologist mare has seven wins and two runnerup finishes in 19 races. She’s has graded stakes wins this year in the Beldame (G2) and Molly Pitcher (G3) and a third-place finish in the La Troienne, all on different courses. The Bill Mott-trainee leaves from gate 4. Swiss Skydiver should be long gone at the start so she’ll get some room to choose a path. Junior Alvarado will likely track the leaders and hoping for a perfect trip and some of that racing luck.
There’s a reason we consider this to often be the best of the Breeders’ Cup. Here are two: veteran mare Beholder in the last race of her career and upstart filly Songbird in 2016:
That takes care of the Big Three. Let’s breeze through the remaining six Saturday contests; not that they’re less important, but we want to get trackside!
Fanduel Breeders’ Cup Mile
Trainer Chad Brown returns with three entries, including last year’s winner, Uni. He’s a 5-1 second choice this time around. Shockingly, Brazilian Ivar leaves gate 11 in a full 14-horse field as the 4-1 favorite over the much more experienced son of More Than Ready, 11-3-4 in 21 starts in a meet where experience matters.
The favorite tag for Ivar seems based on his win in the G1 Shadwell Turf Mile on this track and a G1 win in Argentina. He owns a 5-0-1 record in seven starts, but, huh? Ivar is a son of Japan’s Agnes Gold. His grandsire is Sunday Silence. Oh.
Aidan O’Brien fields Circus Maximus at 12-1 under Ryan Moore and 30-1 longshot Lope Y Fernandez with Frankie Dettori aboard. Brown’s other entries are Digital Age, logging in from post 5, and Raging Bull, both competitive at 8-1 from gates 5 and 14. Cox’s Factor This leaves gate 13 at the same odds.
Breeders’ Cup Sprint
Favorite Vekoma was scratched after spiking a fever leaving 4-for-4 Yaupon inheriting the nod. He’ll play the rabbit under Joel Rosario. There are some closing turtles capable of overtaking him. Firenze Fire and Diamond Oops, both at 8-1, are great closers.
Among the longer shots, Ron Moquett-trained Whitmore has to be the sentimental favorite at 14-1 under Irad Ortiz, Jr. The iron-horse gelded son of Pleasantly Perfect is 14-10-4 in 37 starts—that’s three careers these days. This is also his fourth attempt at his first BC Sprint win.
We’re not supposed to choose favorites, but….
Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf
Brown enters four in this 1 3/163/16-miles contest, but he might need only one, Rushing Fall. The five-year-old daughter of More Than Ready is. She owns a sparkling 11-2-0 record in 14 career starts and has captured three consecutive wins in her lightly raced 2020 season: the Jenny Wiley (G1) on this course, the Diana (G1) at Saratoga and the Beaugay (G3) at Belmont. She’s a deserving 5-2 favorite leaving from a favorable gate 6 in the 14-horse field under a rider who knows her well, Javier Castellano. She’s won five of her six starts at Keeneland and took the Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2017 at Del Mar, her only other Breeders’ Cup experience.
You can never ignore Sistercharlie, especially with John Velazquez as her guide and Brown as her trainer. The six-year-old globe-trotting Myboycharlie mare is 10-3-3 in 17 career starts racing all over France and the U.S. Bookmakers seem to think Father Time may have gotten ahead of her, but she could step on his white robe as she rushes past Rushing Fall.
Brown is also filling the field with My Sister Nat at 12-1 and longshot Nay Lady Nay at 20-1. The most notable among the other contenders is Mean Mary, a 7-2 Scat Daddy four-year-old trained by Graham Motion.
“C’mon, giddyup!” Okay, okay!
Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
Look, we don’t choose the race names.
A weird start just before the turn complicates the tactics of this race. Maybe that’s why Complexity is the 2-1 Morning Line favorite. Maybe it’s because he owns a 5-1-0 record in nine career starts. It’s probably because the four-year-old son of Maclean’s Music is (yet another horse) trained by Chad Brown.
Still, it’s hard to overlook Blue Grass winner Art Collector at 6-1, winner of five straight before an injury kept him from the Kentucky Derby. He did finish a disappointing fourth in the Oct. 3 Preakness, so the idea is to dial him back to a shorter distance as he regains fitness.
Knicks Go is back after a runaway 10-length win here last month and will get some nods at 7-2. And, yep, that’s War of Will running at 10-1 for Mark Casse with regular rider Tyler Gaffalione. Someday we’ll comment on the…unusual…path of his career.
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint
Casse and Gaffalione prep for the Dirt Mile with 7-2 favorite Got Stormy leaving gate 12 in another full field. Imprimus is the 4-1 second choice in gate 3 for trainer Joe Orseno with Irad Ortiz, Jr. guiding. The six-year-old gelded son of Broken Vow won his last start, the Turf Sprint at the same distance on the nearby Kentucky Downs course. Interestingly, Front Run the Fed running at 12-1 for Chad Brown (again), and Bombard, a 15-1 Richard Mandella charge, ran second and third respectively to Imprimis in that same race.
Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
One name: Gamine. After testing her around two turns, trainer Bob Baffert seems to have decided she’s a fastball, never having lost a one-turn race. Under John Velazquez, fast becoming a recent Baffert favorite rider, the 7-5 Morning Line choice would genuinely disappoint absent a win.
That could happen since 2019 Kentucky Oaks winner is a deserved second choice. Speech and Bell’s the One enter at 6-1 and Come Dancing at 8-1, with Irad Ortiz, Jr. starting his day early, all deserve consideration.
Gamine has a knack for burying her competition when they let her get away, so they won’t.
That’s all we’ve got, but that’s a lot! The bad news is fans can get no closer to trackside than their home screens. The great news aside from the hoped-for excellent fields is that television (NBC and NBCSN) and online services (TVG and streaming live at breederscup.com and on Yahoo!) have had enough advance to plan better-than-usual coverage. If you are new to the sport, this would be an excellent introduction to world-class racing. If you’re a longtime fan who anxiously awaits these two days each year, sit back with your favorite tray of this and favorite glass of that and enjoy!
Coverage continues on Horse Network later today and all day Saturday, so be sure to keep one eye on us.
WE’RE OFF!
