Report and day two previews
Updated
That’s pretty much a wrap from day one at the Breeders’ Cup, where the most memorable performances probably came from Golden Pal and Aunt Pearl.
Golden Pal is definitely heading towards Royal Ascot next June according to Wesley Ward, with the King’s Stand Stakes a more likely target than the Commonwealth Cup given the colt’s abundance of speed.
A first-day blank for the long-distance travellers is disappointing, but there’s still all to play for tomorrow when some of Europe’s best horses will be in the mix for four races on the turf. I hope you’ll join me back here - wherever “here” is when you’re blogging - for day two of Breeders’ Cup 2020.
Essential Quality is part of Godolphin’s US string, and there’s not much doubt that his main target next spring will be the Kentucky Derby, a few dozen miles down the road in Louisville.
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE RESULT:
1. ESSENTIAL QUALITY, 2. Hot Rod Charlie, 3. Keemeinmind.
Just as Jackie’s Warrior and Dreamer’s Disease started to lock horns, Essential Quality appeared for the win, that’s some finishing kick
It’s a duel, and now here comes Essential Quality
Still Dreamer’s Disease but Jackie’s Warrior now second, here comes Hot Rod Charlie
Jackie’s Warrior now fourth, Dreamer’s Disease leads
Jackie’s Warrior quickly away, sits on the rail second
Off and running in the Juvenile!
Going in for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile...
Jackie’s Warrior is a very strong favourite here, even money with nine minutes to post.
Essential Quality is also a big contender for Brad Cox after winning the Futurity at Keeneland.
That’s a first-day blank for the Europeans for the second year running. We need a Bounce-Back Saturday tomorrow.
Proceedings conclude with the Juvenile at 10.15. Jackie’s Warrior is the likely favourite for Steve Asmussen, having bolted up in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont last time.
Campanelle and Frankie Dettori were fourth, with Plum Ali fifth.
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES' TURF:
1 AUNT PEARL, 2. Mother Earth, 3. Miss Amulet.
Mother Earth finished well and probably got up for second, Miss Amulet third but that was a wire-to-wire performance from Aunt Pearl and Florent Geroux.
Aunt Pearl clear in the stretch, she’s not coming back
Spanish Love Affair goes well, Miss Amulet is sixth
Aunt Pearl is in front, Campanelle tracks under Dettori
Mother Earth well off the pace, the pace is strong
Campanelle a bit slow out but then ridden towards the lead
Not long now ...
Off and running for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf!
The European challengers here are Jessica Harrington’s Oodnadatta, third in the Moyglare Stud Stakes last time, Ken Condon’s Miss Amulet, who was a close second in the Cheveley Park at Newmarket, Nazuna for Roger Varian - she was second in the Rockfel - and Mother Earth for Aidan O’Brien.
Here’s Mother Earth in the Fillies’ Mile - and remember, she’s the one the commentator is calling as Snowfall ...
Aunt Pearl is a firm favourite at the moment at 9-5, with Campanelle next in on 9-2. Plum Ali is attracting money too on the back of her win in the Miss Grillo at Belmont Park, when Editor At Large was a close third.
Campanelle, of course, is very familiar to European fans, having taken both the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot and the Prix Morny at Deauville so far this year.
This is the Morny, she’s going to take some catching:
European hopes of a winner on the first day of the meeting now depend on the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, and the biggest obstacle in their way, according to the betting at least, is Brad Cox’s Aunt Pearl. She took the Jessamine Stakes last tie out, and it was a very tidy performance.
Aftertiming alert: I should have pointed out that Vequist was in the vid of Dayoutoftheoffice, finishing second by two lengths. The pair of them had the finish between them again but there was a switcheroo in the form, as Vequist charged up the rail for the win.
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES' RESULT:
1 VEQUIST, 2. Dayoutoftheoffice, 3. Girl Daddy.
Vequist wins it and upsets the favourites.
Princess Noor ridden, Dayoutoftheoffice in front, down the stretch they come, Vequist challenges
Dayoutoftheoffice still leads, Princess Noor tracks, Vequist next
Level break, Princess Noor is second, as Dayoutoftheoffice leads
“What a showdown” the track announcer says. And they’re off and running for the Juvenile Fillies’!
Ken McPeek’s other runner in the race, 14-1 shot Crazy Beautiful, also featured in that last video, finishing second to Girl Daddy after having all sorts of trouble getting a run in the stretch.
Princess Noor is steady in the market at 2-1, with Simply Ravishing next on 5-2 and Dayoutoftheoffice on 7-2. And there’s also support for Girl Daddy, the winner of the Pocahontas Stakes.
And here’s another contender that’s unbeaten in three starts: Simply Ravishing for Ken McPeek, who has yet to saddle a Breeders’ Cup winner despite 31 attempts.
She won the Grade One Alcibiades Stakes over track and trip last time:
The field is small but the depth is considerable. Dayoutoftheoffice is also unbeaten in three, having taken the Grade One Frizette at Belmont last time by two lengths.
Next up, we’re on to the dirt for the Juvenile Fillies’, and a small field of just seven runners headed by current 2-1 favourite Princess Noor, unbeaten in three starts. Bob Baffert’s filly has never really come off the bridle, for instance in the Debutante Stakes at Del Mar:
The payouts/prices at the off: Fire At Will 30-1, Battleground 7-2, Outadore 9-1.
Battleground finished really strongly from off the pace but was a little slow from the gates and never looked like getting seriously involved.
He was still clear best of the Europeans, but this is a track where everything needs to go right and the favourite was on the back foot from the off.
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE TURF RESULT:
1. FIRE AT WILL, 2. Battleground, 3. Outadore.
That’s a big disappointment for the Europeans, a 30-1 winner for Michael Maker and Ricardo Santana.
Still officiallly a photo for second but Battleground looked to get up.
Fire At Will takes over, Battleground runs on but can’t get there from well off the pace
Mutabaaseq very wide, Outadore still leads turning in, Cadillac challenging
Gretzky The Great second, New Mandate tracking
Battleground is mid-division, Outadore is the early leader , The Lir Jet last
Cadillac is a little reluctant to go in, but he’s in now, won’t be long ...
Off and running in the Juvenile Turf!
Two minutes to post time for the Juvenile Turf, and money has arrived for Battleground. He’s in to 3-1 favourite on the board, it take some serious cash to do that so quickly.
Here’s Golden Pal’s win in the Juvenile Turf Sprint on the At The Races Twitter feed...
Rocket! Golden Pal wins the $1m @BreedersCup Juvenile Turf Sprint for Wesley Ward and @iradortiz at @keenelandracing #BC20 pic.twitter.com/VluQqlSW18
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 6, 2020
Didn’t see this, can anyone confirm?
Just saw a guy stuff a full-size Macbook Pro in his pants in the #BreedersCup winners circle...the hell? 🤣
— Alex Henry (@hmlaa) November 6, 2020
Jessica Harrington’s Cadillac and Ralph Beckett’s New Mandate are also finding support, in the latter case possibly because he has Frankie Dettori holding the reins.
They are out on the track, eight minutes to post time.
Gretzky The Great, named after Canada’s most famous hockey-stick-wielding son, is also fancied for Mark Casse. Here he is winning the Summer Stakes at Woodbine:
Battleground is not, however, the favourite, on the US boards at least. That honour currently goes to Todd Pletcher’s Mutasaabeq, who took the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland.
We move swiftly on to the Juvenile Turf, and no fewer than seven European challengers including Battleground, the joint-favourite for next year’s 2,000 Guineas.
Nine of 13 runnings of this race have gone to European-trained runners, so this is one the visitors will be very much looking to get on the board.
Here he is winning the Chesham at Royal Ascot:
Golden Pal has been installed as the 6-1 favourite for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot next year by Paddy Power.
His owner has just been presented with the prize out on the track and suggested that he will leave the decision up to his trainer, which given Ward’s love affair with the Royal meeting probably means we can look forward to seeing Golden Pal in Berkshire next summer.
He was closed down to three-quarters of a length at the line, though. If he’s all speed, which is how it looks, the extra half-furlong and stiff finish at Ascot might not be ideal.
That was armchair stuff for Irad Ortiz jun on Golden Pal, albeit at very high speed. He flew out of the stalls, had the rail at the turn and then quickened into a decisive lead at the top of the stretch.
Ubettabelieveit gets lots of credit though, as he fell out of the stalls and gifted his rivals several lengths. Lippizaner and After Five were next.
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE TURF SPRINT:
1 Golden Pal, 2 Cowan, 3 Ubettabelieveit
Favourite clear a furlong out but closed down near the line, Cowan second with Nigel Tinkler’s Ubettabelieve it back in third.
Golden Pal clear in the stretch
Golden Pal straight into the early lead and on the rail
Off and racing for the Juvenile Turf Sprint!
The runners are approaching the gates for the Juvenile Turf Sprint. Going in, in fact ...
They are coming out onto the track for the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Golden Pal is still on odds-on and Valorie Lund’s Bodenheimer, seen here winning the Indian Summer at Keeneland, is the only other runner at single-figure odds.
One last bit of video form, to point out that the field for the Juvenile Turf Sprint also includes Mark Casse’s Dirty Dangle - it’s a term from ice hockey, apparently ...
It’s hardly unexpected, but Oisin Murphy will climb aboard The Lir Jet in the Juvenile Sprint having been officially confirmed as Britain’s champion jockey for the second time. He is around 33-1 to celebrate by getting off the mark in the US.
Golden Pal is a very skinny 1-2 in the early show on the board, while Hollie Doyle’s backers could be looking at a monster payout if she can do the business on Mighty Gurkha. He’s paying 80-1.
Golden Pal showed so much early speed last time that he could probably get to the lead from anywhere, but it’s worth bearing in mind that just to check, the draw gods decided to put him box 14.
Hollie Doyle, on the other hand, is against the rail in one aboard Archie Watson’s Mighty Gurkha, and they will need to trap like a greyhound to avoid getting stuck behind horses on what is probably the tightest turf track she’s ridden since her pony racing days.
The first PMU show on the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint is through, and a bugler is a-tootlin’ out the track to announce the start of the Breeders’ Cup races.
Golden Pal’s dominance of the market is such that it is 9-1 bar the jolly with the British bookies. That brings in Second Of July and After Five, first and second in the Futurity at Belmont in October, when the latter came from a different county to get to within half a length of the winner.
The action will arrive thick and fast once the Breeders’ Cup races get underway in 45 minutes’ time, so we might as well kick off with some form courtesy of YouTube.
This is what the Europeans are up against in the Juvenile Turf Sprint: Golden Pal’s opponents watch his hindquarters disappear into the distance in the Skidmore at Saratoga. Impressive stuff.
Preamble
Welcome to the Guardian’s live blog covering the 37th Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland this weekend, which will offer a sporting diversion from that other race in the US which has been front and centre stage for the last few days (weeks and months). That one is now very much into the closing stages, with the rider in blue colours several lengths clear and trading at 1.03 in running, while his rival in red – who does look to be putting up a pound or two overweight – curses about some back-stretch interference that no-one else seems to have noticed and threatens to lodge an objection.
In Lexington, Kentucky, meanwhile, there are 14 races that are still very much up for grabs, including seven on Keeneland’s turf course which have all attracted challengers from European stables.
There are, of course, several important differences to the usual run of things as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic: no spectators in the stands, Covid tests for all competing jockeys – which has forced Christophe Soumillon out of the meeting and into isolation after two positives – and strict social distancing everywhere on the track, including the presentations.
Soumillon’s unexpected absence means that Colin Keane, freshly re-installed as Ireland’s champion jockey for a second time after his debut title win in 2017, will take over on Dermot Weld’s Tarnawa, one of the favourites for the Turf tomorrow night.
Today, though, it is all about the two-year-olds – it’s called Future Stars Friday, after all – and the action kicks off at 7.30 when Wesley Ward’s Golden Pal – familiar to European fans as the narrow runner up behind The Lir Jet (who runs in the Juvenile Turf later on) in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot – will be a warm favourite for the Juvenile Turf Sprint over five-and-a-half furlongs. Hollie Doyle has a chance to add a Grade One to her recent debut Group One winner aboard Mighty Gurkha, while Nigel Tinkler’s Ubettabelieveit, a 40-1 winner of the Flying Childers at Doncaster last time, is also in the field along with Aidan O’Brien’s Lippizaner.
Europe drew a blank on the opening day last year and nothing will be straightforward, though four of the first five in the betting for the Juvenile Turf, and seven out of 14 runners in all, are visitors, including Battleground, the current joint-favourite for next year’s 2,000 Guineas.
The field for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf includes Oodnadatta (Jessica Harrington), Nazuna (Roger Varian), Miss Amulet (Ken Condon) and Mother Earth (Aidan O’Brien), the latter being the filly who was last seen finishing third in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket when her jockey and numbercloth suggested she was actually her stable companion, Snowfall. And there is another familiar name from the Wesley Ward stable in Campanelle, who blitzed her field in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot in June.
Your correspondent is stuck on the wrong side of the pond this year, but I’ll do my best to post video form, betting moves, results and post-reaction as fast as anyone on the internet (if not faster). Buckle up for Breeders’ Cup 2020!
