Key events
Believing playing up in the stalls, Ryan Moore unseated.
Heading to the gates for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, the Europeans were three-from-three on the turf yesterday so can they extend the streak?
Big Evs, who is drawn 11, is currently showing at 18-1 on the local tote, with Bradsell, who is widest of all in 12, in single-figure odds at 8-1. Cogburn, meanwhile, is odds-on at 4-5 to repeat his blitz at Saratoga, with Charlie Appleby’s Star Of Mystery – a regular in north American turf sprints this year though with only one win, in a Grade 3 at Saratoga, also attracting support.
I think I’m right in saying that Cogburn was the first horse ever to dip below 60 seconds over that course at Saratoga. It’s a slightly unusual trip, but even so, there have been plenty before him that tried.
Bradsell and Big Evs will be very familiar to European fans, and their riders, Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand, are, of course, are very familiar to each other, having tied the knot in 2022. Both horses and their riders were in the Nunthorpe at York in August, where Bradsell emerged victorious with Believing, who is also in the field here, in second.
Wi-fi has returned for the moment, so fingers crossed. It’s 20 minutes to post time for the Turf Sprint, which features a strong challenge from Europe – Big Evs, Believing and Bradsell are the headliners – up against a top-notch US-trained sprinter in Steve Asmussen’s Cogburn. The Americans have dubbed him “the fastest horse in the world” after he broke the track record in the Jaipur at Saratoga:
The latest interruption arrived just as the Filly & Mare Sprint was approaching its climax, and what a finish it proved to be. Scylla and Ways And Means were among the horses in a four-way go for the lead inside the final furlong … only for Soul Of An Angel, who missed the kick and all but tailed off after a furlong, to sweep around them all for an upset win.
Please accept my apologies for the frequent interruptions to the service at the moment. Not for the first time, the richest and most powerful nation on earth is apparently incapable of organising a stable wi-fi connection in the media room for a global sporting event.
Ways And Means moves alongside the lead
Society and Scylla close to the lead, a sub-22 second opening quarter
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint!
They are heading towards the gates, Vahva and Scylla, with riding legend Mike Smith in the plate, are popular with the punters too.
Steve Asmussen’s Society is next in the betting, she won the Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga last time out:
We have been racing here since what felt like dawn – American fans feel short-changed by anything much less than a dozen races on a card – but the Breeders’ Cup races are underway in around 20 minute with the Filly & Mare Sprint over seven furlongs.
The likely favourite here is Ways And Means, a Grade One winner at Saratoga in August who comes in on a three-race winning streak.
A little bit about Del Mar. This is a beautiful and historic track, co-founded by the legendary crooner and turf fan, Bing Crosby, who was on the gate to personally hand out the first ticket on opening day in July 1937. The current season here, in fact, which runs until 1 December, is officially the “Bing Crosby” season, and this is a track that likes to acknowledge and celebrate its place in racing history.
It was the scene of a famous match race between the great Seabiscuit and Ligaroti a year after its opening …
… and there are displays, photographs and old posters on the walls throughout the grandstand – did you know, for instance, that Betty Grable was a keen racehorse owner and fan here? Anyone wanting a really deep dive into Del Mar’s past, meanwhile, should check out this page on their website, which goes through the decades in granular detail.
Preamble
Hello from Del Mar racecourse, 20 miles north of San Diego in southern California: where “the turf meets the surf” and also where City Of Troy will bid to make history in the Breeders’ Cup Classic later this afternoon, in the middle of the nine-race main card at the 2024 Breeders’ Cup.
When the gates slam open at around 21.41GMT, we can expect the most intense and compelling two minutes of racing action this year, and perhaps for many a year, as the Derby winner attempts to complete an unprecedented double with a win in America’s most prestigious and valuable all-aged race.
Fifteen horses from the Aidan O’Brien stable have attempted to win the Classic, but none have had the mix of pedigree, class and racing style that City Of Troy will bring to his first (and last) race on dirt today. Whether that will be enough to make it 16th time lucky is anyone’s guess, but Forever Young, from Japan, and Fierceness, the big US-trained hope, will be among the dirt-hardened opponents looking to exploit any hesitancy from the off.
City Of Troy’s run in the Classic was always going to be the focal point of today’s proceedings, but there are, of course, eight more races to think about too, including four on the turf where European runners had a 3-3 clean sweep on Friday.
Bradsell and Big Evs, with Hollie Doyle and her husband, Tom Marquand, aboard respectively, will leave the outside stalls for the Turf Sprint at 19.41GMT, while Rebel’s Romance and Emily Upjohn, with Frankie Dettori in the plate, head the betting for the Turf at 21.01. And once the Classic is done and dusted, there will still be time to run the Filly & Mare Turf (22.25) and the Mile, where Notable Speech, the 2,000 Guineas winner, is expected to start favourite.
It was a hugely promising start for the Europeans on Friday, but there is still much work to be done on Saturday before this can be filed away as a good weekend for the visitors. Japan, too, will be looking for a winner or two from the remaining runners in its unusually strong team for the meeting.
It’s going to be a thrilling ride with, no doubt, a big surprise or three along the way, and the Breeders’ Cup action will be underway at 19.00GMT with the Filly & Mare Sprint. Once we are underway, the action will be unrelenting, but keep tuning in here for video previews of all nine race, live results, betting, post-race quotes and more.
For racing fans everywhere, it is time…
