Bayern wins Breeders’ Cup Classic in thrilling finish. By @Greg_Wood_ http://t.co/M5ASroXphj (Photo: Getty) pic.twitter.com/HyloEUh2pI
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) November 2, 2014
Yet again, the Breeders’ Cup Classic delivers extraordinary drama. That was one of the most exciting races I’ve ever seen, and if Toast Of New York could only have been a nose and a micron further forward at the line, it would probably have replaced Zenyatta’s win in the same race as my all-time favourite.
As it is, Toast Of New York and all those associated with him leave Santa Anita with immense credit, and an obvious next target in the $10 million Dubai World Cup next March, the world’s richest race. Jamie Spencer will presumably be retired by then, but Jamie Osborne and Michael Buckley, his trainer and owner, will be snowed under by applications for the role. After that, who knows? The Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland 12 months from now must be the obvious target.
Bayern was a brave winner, and California Chrome added to the mix, while the stewards, perhaps understandably, did not want to amend the result even though a disqualification would have been long odds-on in a run-of-the-mill race.
That’s why I love the Classic so much.
I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did, many thanks for joining me. And thanks also to my daughter JoJo for being such a loyal (and hopefully not only) reader.
This is Greg Wood, at Santa Anita, signing off after a breathtaking day of action on the track.
Breeders’ Cup Classic final result: 1. Bayern, 2. Toast Of New York, 3. California Chrome.
Stewards rule no change to result.
Amazing tension here. I can barely type, my hands are shaking. It was a great ride by Jamie Spencer, he got into a perfect position tracking Bayern but could quite force his horse’s nose in front on the run to the wire.
Marcus Hersh, sitting behind me, says that if it was a normal race, “they would take it down”.
There is an inquiry, there is an inquiry. Bayern bumped a horse on his inside coming out of the stalls. It’s possible Toast will get this from the stewards.
Amazing race, Toast Of New York just touched off by Bayern in a photo. California Chrome was third.
Bayern leads, Toast is second, Cal Chrome third, down the back stretch
And they’re off in the Breeders’ Cup Classic!
Finally, finally they are starting to go into the stalls. Shared Belief is shortening as the off approaches, into 2-1 now.
Now nearly 10 minutes late and they still aren’t behind the stalls. Can’t see any reason why, but they are now starting to make their way over.
Couple of minutes to go now. Toast Of New York is wired and struggling against his pony, which isn’t good. Hopefully he is not losing his race before it starts.
The remainder are all very well behaved and professional. I’m sat here shivering, partly in anticipation and partly because it is actually getting quite chilly.
Toast Of New York is on his toes and has headed off to the start a little way ahead of the rest, who are now parading in racecard order in front of the stands.
And now, finally, here they come for the $5m Breeders’ Cup Classic, to the sound of The Best Is Yet To Come on the track PA. Sadly I haven’t yet worked out a way to get live audio files into the blog. Maybe next year.
They are going to be late off here in the Classic, it is five minutes to the official post time and they are not even on the track yet. But it will be worth it when they arrive. Stay awake people!
And a bit more Guillot voodoo, this is his version of cowboy Bill Mott, who runs Cigar Street in the Classic.
And also Bill Mott pic.twitter.com/FTp08nd55B
— Greg Wood (@Greg_Wood_) November 2, 2014
About a quarter of an hour to go to post time for the Classic, and Shared Belief is the 5-2 favourite to extend his unbeaten record to eight races. California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby winner, is 7-2 second-favourite, just ahead of Tonalist on 4-1. Bayern, the likely pace-setter, is 7-1, and Toast Of New York is 19-1. Moreno, trained by the voodoo-doll man Eric Guillot, is 28-1 to work some magic.
Half an hour to the Classic. Here’s a piece I wrote for Thoroughbred Racing Commentary on why it’s my favourite race of the year, particularly when it’s at Santa Anita.
You’ll (possibly) regret it if you do!
@Greg_Wood_ Disappointing evening. I'm going to bed. Maybe Melbourne Cup can do better.
— Peter J McFarlane (@PeterJMcFarlane) November 1, 2014
Okay, so it is still possible for Europeans to win races at the Breeders’ Cup meeting, though the odds on a blank were suddenly rather short as Obviously went clear there at the top of the straight.
Could it possibly be a Euro double in the final two races thanks to Toast Of New York?
Obviously led Toronado through the first six furlongs and into the straight, and then kicked clear as Toronado ran wide and started to fade. Karakontie, trained in France by Jonathan Pease, came storming down the straight under Stephane Pasquier, however, and ran him down before crossing the line ahead of Freddy Head’s Anodin and Dave Simcock’s Trade Storm.
Breeders’ Cup Mile result: 1. Karakontie, 2. Anodin, 3. Trade Storm. A 1-2-3- for the Europeans.
Approaching the gates for the Breeders’ Cup Mile .....
@osbornejamie Thinking of you and your lovely Toast. All fingers crossed. Dad will be laughing from the great betting shop in the sky.
— Tania Kindersley (@taniakindersley) November 1, 2014
Toronado is the pick of the paddock according to good judge Marcus Hersh of Daily Racing Form...
Toronado is not losing this race on looks. Tremendous in paddock.
— Marcus Hersh (@DRFHersh) November 1, 2014
Updated
Two chances left to avoid a European blank, and the Mile is the pick of the pair according to the prices and depth of team. Veda, Mustajeeb, Trade Storm, Anodin and the favourite Toronado - currently a 2-1 chance on the Tote - all go in to bat for European stables, while Obviously, trained by Philip D’Amato and ridden by Joe Talamo, is the one being backed to see them off at around 9-2.
Here is Obviously in the Shoemaker Mile earlier this year.
Work All Week was around 20-1 to win, despite having recorded plenty of victories at some of American racing’s less storied venues, including Prairie Meadows in Iowa and Fairmount Park in Illinois. He got home by half a length, giving Florent Geroux, his jockey, his first Breeders’ Cup winner.
A bit of a no-show from Rich Tapestry, who never really looked happy amid the ferocious test of speed that is the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Work All Week stayed on well in the closing stages to resist the charge of Secret Circle. Wind Fire, meanwhile, beat only one home.
Breeders’ Cup Sprint result: 1. Work All Week, 2. Secret Circle, 3. Private Zone.
Here’s Rich Tapestry at the track earlier this week...
Three races left and next up is the Sprint, a race that is generally a lock for the home team due to the complete absence of any runners from elsewhere.
There are two visitors in the field this time though: Wind Fire, who is 55-1 to win for the David Brown yard, and Michael Chang’s Rich Tapestry, a far more credible 5-2 chance to take the prize back to Hong Kong. Bob Baffert’s Secret Circle, who got home by a neck in this race last year, is 9-2 to make it back-to-back victories.
Shared Belief’s moment of destiny approaches in the Classic, now little more than 90 minutes away. Here’s a quick glimpse of how he’s been preparing...
After the race, remind me to take down the motivational posters that Hollendorfer gave me. #BreedersCup pic.twitter.com/G7BLXJEv6F
— Shared Belief (@SharedBelief) November 1, 2014
That’s a fourth Grade One in a row for Main Sequence, who seems a different animal to the one that left Britain at the end of last season. On his final start last year, he finished eighth of 10 behind Farhh in the Champion Stakes at Ascot at 66-1, and described as “out of his depth ... due to slipped standards of form and attitude” by Timeform. It has been an impressive performance by Motion to get him to the highest level and keep him there.
As he did in the Arc, Flintshire ran well but found one opponent too good, this time by half a length. Twilight Eclipse was just ahead of Telescope in the minor places.
Michael Owen got a debrief from Richard Kingscote out on the track. Brown Panther was prominent for much of the race but under some pressure to stay there and just wasn’t good enough when the race started in earnest.
Breeders’ Cup Turf result: 1. Main Sequence, 2. Flintshire, 3. Twilight Eclipse. The European drought at this year’s Breeders’ Cup continues, though Main Sequence is at least trained by Graham Motion, who was born in Cambridge.
Telescope has eased slightly to 6-4, while Flintshire is a 4-1 chance with two minutes left to post time. Brown Panther, Michael Owen’s horse, is 12-1, while Chicquita is a 14-1 chance to rescue something from the meeting for Aidan O’Brien.
Okay, here we go again with the Breeders’ Cup Turf, arguably the best chance of a European winner at this year’s meeting given the depth of visitors’ challenge. Telescope, believe it or not, is a 6-5 chance on the local tote, but roughly a 2-1 chance with British bookies, while Flintshire, the Arc runner-up, is 9-2 here and 11-4 on the other side of the pond.
The one American-trained horse being backed to give them a race is Main Sequence, formerly a Derby runner-up when trained by David Lanigan, and subsequently a horse who gained a reputation for being a bit of a dodgepot, to use a technical term.
He has been transformed since moving to the States, however, winning three Grade Ones in a row for Graham Motion, though whether that is down to a gelding operation, the application of Lasix or a bit of both is difficult to say. He is 7-1 to continue the European blank and rub a little salt into the wound while doing so.
Updated
Texas Red romps away with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
#TexasRed wins the @SentientJet #BC14 Juvenile by a long shot. pic.twitter.com/LhvzjEPOgX
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 1, 2014
Apologies for the brief break in transmission, I was filing copy for tomorrow’s Observer, though there’s not a great deal to write home about from a European point of view at the moment.
The Great War put up a very fair showing in the Juvenile, travelling well on the dirt and apparently there with every chance as they turned for home. Texas Red put the race to bed in a few strides in the stretch, however, recording an impressive victory but also prompting thoughts of what might have been. Last time out, he finished third to Bob Baffert’s American Pharoah, who was the strong favourite for the Juvenile until he was ruled out by an injury earlier this week.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile full result: 1. Texas Red, 2. Carpe Diem, 3. Upstart. The Great War was fourth after travelling well to the top of the stretch.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile result: 1. Texas Red, 2 photo.
They are on the track for the Juvenile, with Carpe Diem the 9-5 favourite for Todd Pletcher. Daredevil, another runner for Pletcher, is a 5-2 chance, and The Great War is 14-1.
Congratulations to #JudyTheBeauty and Mike Smith on winning the @DraftKings #BreedersCup Filly & Mare Sprint pic.twitter.com/Vne0UPKNBY
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 1, 2014
Ken Ramsey, the owner of Bobby’s Kitten, says he is keen to run him at Royal Ascot next year.
Five races left at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, and five more chances to take one of the prizes back to Europe. The Great War will attempt to give Aidan O’Brien a second win in the Juvenile after Johannesburg’s famous victory in 2001.
Bobby’s Kitten paid just over 7-1 for the win. Caspar Netscher ran well without ever looking likely to win, staying on from the rear in the straight and passing several rivals but ultimately out of the frame.
That’s another for Chad Brown, with Bobby’s Kitten flying late to catch No Nay Never in the last strides. Frankie Dettori seemed to have timed his challenge just right, passing the long-time leader Reneesgotzip a furlong out and powering into the lead, but Joel Rosario was finishing best of all on Bobby’s Kitten and snatched it at the death. Undrafted, who ran in the July Cup earlier this year for his owner, the American footballer Wes Welker, was third.
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint result: 1. Bobby’s Kitten, 2. photo
Nearing the gates for the Turf Sprint, in fact they’re going behind. This is on the (slightly) downhill sprint course, a unique feature of Santa Anita, which is being used for the first time today after an earlier race was taken off the turf.
And on the subject of Jim Rome, here’s a vid that the Breeders’ Cup put together about him ...
Jim Rome, the sporting shock-jock who co-owns Shared Belief, the favourite for the Classic, is slowly getting himself warmed up for the big race.
Come on #SharedBelief! I’m betting him & the #BreedersCup with TVG. Clones get $50 Free Bet @tvg.com/Clones50 pic.twitter.com/Y60twWcVMj
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) November 1, 2014
The Turf Sprint is next up here, with one European runner in Caspar Netscher but a couple of our leading jockeys engaged to ride too. Frankie Dettori is aboard Wesley Ward’s No Nay Never, who took the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot last year, while Ryan Moore is aboard Dimension, now with Conor Murphy in the States but formerly trained by James Fanshawe.
The betting is wide open, with Ambitious Brew the narrow favourite at 9-2, ahead of Bobby’s Kitten and No Nay Never on 5-1. Caspar Netscher is a 20-1 chance to give Europe its first win at this year’s Breeders’ Cup.
Here’s Ambitious Brew getting nosed out of it in the Eddie D Stakes last time out.
This is Javier Castellano on his beautifully-executed front-running ride on Dayatthespa in the Filly & Mare Turf.
I thought she could get the distance if we could get away with a slow pace. I was hoping we could go 24 [seconds], 48, one minute 13 and that’s exactly what we did. When we got to the three-quarters in 1:13 I thought to myself, “we’re going to steal this thing”, and we did.”
That is a photo finish for #JudyTheBeauty in the @DraftKings Filly & Mare Sprint. #BC14 pic.twitter.com/d5TGMLAfAg
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 1, 2014
Mike Smith, that is clearly a ready-tied bow tie.
— Dave Yates (@thebedfordfox) November 1, 2014
Maybe so, but winners can get away with the occasional fashion faux-pas.
That’s another winner for Wesley Ward, who saddled his first Breeders’ Cup winner when Hootenanny took the Juvenile Turf yesterday. Judy The Beauty moved through smoothly to challenge at the top of the stretch under Mike Smith and took a good lead out of the chasing pack, but Better Lucky, from Godolphin’s American operation, produced a really determined challenge through the final furlong and was just denied by the winner.
Filly & Mare Sprint result: 1. Judy The Beauty, 2. Better Lucky, 3. Thank You Marylou.
Off and running in the Filly & Mare Sprint
Sir Michael Stoute on Dank’s run in the Filly & Mare Turf:
She’s run a very game race. They didn’t go fast enough in the middle part of the race for her. Ryan [Moore] was a little further back than he wanted to be and had to come wide, but she’s tried as always.
Another interesting Trakus fact, this time on the Filly & Mare Turf.
Stephanie's Kitten covered 70 ft more than #BC14 F&M Turf winner Dayatthespa, distance equating to ~ 8 1/4L
— Trakus (@TrakusRacing) November 1, 2014
Next up here is the Filly & Mare Sprint, the only remaining Breeders’ Cup race without a European interest. Judy The Beauty is the 5-2 favourite in the early betting, with Stonetastic and Artemis Agrotera at 7-2 and 5-1 respectively. Herewith some vids...
D Wayne Lukas, almost as legendary a talker as he is a trainer, is in the interview room.
If you’re going to train these horses for these owners, they want to be in this arena. They want to win when the whole world is watching. So if you can do one thing, you might have a few stumbling races going into one of these, but if you can concentrate starting in August and try to bring it together on the right day and get one of these, it’s worth five of the others. This is where everybody wants to be. This is where this gentleman believes he’s going to get when we pay that kind of money for a filly, and this is where we need to put him. And that’s what we’ve made a career of doing.
My mind now returns to a conversation in the parking lot on the way in with US racing pundit Bruno De Julio (his website is here).
His view was that the amount of rain the track had taken overnight could be just what the frontrunners needed, as it could allow them to show their speed while blunting the finishing effort of those in pursuit at the business end of the race. Two races is too soon to judge, but there is certainly evidence to suggest that Bruno might have been right on the money.
Jon Ivan-Duke of William Hill has emailed to say that his organisation’s worldwide betting operation took a grand total of 56 win bets on Take Charge Brandi for the Juvenile Fillies’. To be honest, I’m surprised it was even that many.
Two front-running victories in a row as Dayatthespa leads them home in the Filly & Mare Turf. Stephanie’s Kitten finished best of all into second, while Just The Judge and Dank were third and fourth.
Javier Castellano really did have things all his own way out in front and there was never anything travelling in behind that looked likely to reel him in. As in the opener, those trying to chase him down were forced out wide on the turn, Dank in particular, and the effort of closing the gap was too much for them in the short straight.
Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf result: 1. Dayatthespa, 2. Stephanie’s Kitten, 3. photo.
Post time for the Filly & Mare Turf. Dank is the 2-1 favourite on the local tote, while Dayatthespa and stablemate Stephanie’s Kitten are 5-1 and 4-1 respectively.
Just got the full result sheet for the Juvenile Fillies’. There were some crazy returns among the exotic bets, the 6-11-10-1 Superfecta for instance paid $97,620 to a $1 stake.
The best of the American challengers in this race according to Timeform is Dayatthespa, trained by Chad Brown. Here she is winning the Grade One First Lady Stakes at Keeneland last time out.
The punters went home feeling on pretty good terms with themselves yesterday after victories for Untapable and Goldencents, both solidly-backed favourites, but that result in the opener is a reminder that things are rarely that straightforward when racing is as competitive as this.
Dank, trained by Sir Michael Stoute in Newmarket, could get them back on track in the next race, the Filly & Mare Turf, which is due off in just under 15 minutes. Just The Judge (Charlie Hills) and Secret Gesture (Ralph Beckett) back up the British challenge, while Fiesolana is also expected to run well for Ireland’s Willie McCreery.
D Wayne Lukas has now extended his own all-time record for Breeders’ Cup winners to 20, at the age of 79.
The Trakus service, which logs actual distance travelled in a race, shows how much of the run of the race the winner had there. Top Decile was forced out wide, and covered much more ground. Both second and third had higher average speed than the winner too.
#BC14 Juv Fillies 2nd Top Decile cov'd 43ft > Take Charge Brandi, 3rd Wonder Gal 52ft more. Both avg'd higher speed in race than 60-1 winner
— Trakus (@TrakusRacing) November 1, 2014
A huge upset in the opening Breeders’ Cup race of the evening as Take Charge Brandi makes all the running to win the Juvenile Fillies’ at 60-1. Top Decile, whose jockey Rosie Napravnik is riding for the last time today before retiring to start a family, made late progress to take second, but Victor Espinoza had the race won by then on Take Charge Brandi, yet another Cup winner for legendary trainer D Wayne Lukas. Wonder Gal took third in a tight photo with Feathered.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ result: 1. Take Charge Brandi, 2. Top Decile, 3. photo.
Going into the stalls for the Juvenile Fillies’. Angela Renee still solid in the market at 3-1, with Puca, a daughter of Big Brown, next best at 4-1.
Weather-wise, it is cloudy and a fair bit cooler than usual at Santa Anita, but it doesn’t feel like there is any more rain in the offing. One forecast yesterday suggested a “100 per cent” chance of rain at 1pm local time. Which shows impressive confidence in the forecaster’s ability, but probably misplaced confidence all the same.
The field has just emerged onto the track for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’, one of only two Cup races this evening with no Euro interest.
Todd Pletcher’s Angela Renee is the favourite on the back of a good win at this track last time out.
The Guardian live blog - where racing’s powerbrokers follow the Breeders’ Cup...
@Greg_Wood_ I'm locked in for the evening, live blog at hand...
— Paul Bittar (@paulbittar) November 1, 2014
And California Chrome’s Kentucky Derby victory ...
Here’s Bayern, another big contender tonight, winning the Pennsylvania Derby with California Chrome behind in sixth.
This is Shared Belief, the Classic favourite, beating Toast Of New York in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Michael Buckley, Toast Of New York’s owner, said earlier this week that, without criticising the jockey Victor Espinoza, he felt that Jamie Spencer, who knows the horse well, would have held onto him a little longer. Also, he did get a bit of a bump at the top of the stretch, and could actually find more on dirt than Shared Belief. Several ifs for sure, but the gap between the horses is not unbridgeable.
Here’s Tonalist, the second-favourite for the Classic, winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in September.
Less than an hour now to the first Breeders’ Cup race, and a few videos of contenders are on the way. First, though, a selection of some of the “voodoo dolls” of rival trainers which Eric Guillot has nailed to his barn door here at Santa Anita.
A selection of the voodoo dolls at Eric Guillot's barn at Santa Anita. He runs Moreno in the Classic. #BC14 pic.twitter.com/NqUylrpeZH
— Greg Wood (@Greg_Wood_) November 1, 2014
Just so you know, Kermit is Christophe Clement, Charlie Brown is Chad Brown, Spongebob is Bob Baffert and Patton is Jerry Hollendorfer, all trainers with rivals to his Moreno in the Classic tonight. Just about the only trainer who doesn’t have a doll on the door, in fact, is Jamie Osborne, who runs Toast Of New York. Apparently Guillot was looking out for a Mick Jagger doll but couldn’t track one down in time. That, or Austin Powers.
Something very unusual happened in California last night. It rained, and the reaction at Santa Anita this morning to the arrival of a little moisture from above says a great deal about just fortunate they are to be living here in the first place.
A little under half an inch of rain fell in the area of Santa Anita Park between about 1am and 7am. And you read that correctly, a little under half an inch in six hours. It fell onto a turf track that would have ridden as fast as a freeway without it, and both the dirt and turf courses here, which will stage the final nine races of the 2014 Breeders’ Cup meeting from around midday local time, are both still described as good.
Yet the track executives still felt the need to switch the first two races on today’s undercard, both scheduled to be run on the turf, to the dirt track, which meant that the runners and riders in the first, the, er, Juvenile Turf Sprint Stakes, came back splattered with muck.
The switch was purely a precaution to “protect” the turf, and there is a huge amount of prize money up for grabs on the grass later on today so it was probably a reasonable one in the circumstances, but please don’t get the idea that it will be soft out there later, or anything like it. In fact, the expectation is still that it will ride faster than good when things get underway.
The Europeans drew a blank in the four Cup races yesterday, but today is the card that really matters and there are European-trained favourites in the Filly & Mare Turf, where Dank bids to follow up last year’s win, the Turf, in which Flintshire and Telescope head the market, and the Mile, with Toronado going for Britain’s new champion trainer, Richard Hannon.
Other interesting contenders include Caspar Netscher, who lines up for David Simcock in the Turf Sprint, a race that the Europeans should probably target more seriously than they do, while The Great War (Juvenile) and Windfire (Sprint) are runners on dirt for Aidan O’Brien and David Brown respectively. Brown Panther runs for Michael Owen in the Turf, Just The Judge has a solid chance to give Charlie Hills a winner at a second consecutive Breeders’ Cup, and only two of tonight’s races do not have a Euro in there somewhere.
The evening will conclude with Toast Of New York’s attempt to become the first British-trained horse to win the Classic on dirt, a race which is due to start at 00.35GMT.
It is easy to be beguiled by the remarkable back story to his journey thus far, from a small Lambourn stable and via Wolverhampton and Dubai in the space of just a year. If he could win, it would be up there with the most impressive achievements by any British-trained horse in recent years, and send Jamie Spencer into his imminent retirement on the back of the biggest win of his career.
It would be a racing journalist’s dream, in other words, but I do happen to think he has a better chance than the betting suggests to bridge the two-and-three-quarter length gap with Shared Belief on their running on a synthetic surface at Del Mar in August. California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby winner, is another huge runner, while Bayern, Tonalist and Cigar Street all have a case to be made in their favour, but Toast Of New York could definitely be something to stay up for.
Please tweet me or email if you can and I’ll try to include as much as possible as events unfold. The main card at the Breeders’ Cup is one of racing’s great cards, and this one has plenty to keep the excitement level high from start to finish.
Greg will be here shortly.
