Breeders' Cup Draw © Zoe Metz
RECORDS FALL AT THE BREEDERS’ CUP DRAW
The races have been drawn for the 41st running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar this Friday and Saturday. 179 horses are entered in the 14 races, a record for California, and 67 hail from other countries, a record for the Breeders’ Cup.
Most of the players are in place. The Japanese arrived at Del Mar last Tuesday, the Euros came in over the weekend and the last of the East Coast invaders shipped in Monday and earlier today.
Fourteen horses are entered in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Irish-bred City of Troy is the morning line favorite at 5/2 followed by G1 Travers winner Fierceness at 3-1 and Japan’s Forever Young at 6-1. Pacific Classic winner Mixto drew the #4 post next to City of Troy and is listed at 30-1. Only one foreign invader has ever captured the Classic, which goes off as the eighth race on the Saturday card.
Thorpedo Anna is the shortest price on Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup card. The Kentucky Oaks winner is the 4/5 favorite in the Distaff which drew 10 fillies and mares. She’ll break from the two hole. Raging Sea at 7/2 and Japan’s Awesome Result at 4-1 are next on the morning line. The Distaff is the sixth race on the card.
Other morning line favorites are Cogburn in the Turf Sprint; Ways and Means in the Filly and Mare Sprint; Rebel’s Romance, in search of his second Breeders’ Cup win, in the Turf; War Like Goddess in the Filly and Mare Turf; Federal Judge in the Sprint; the English-bred Notable Speech in the Mile, and Domestic Product is the favorite in the Dirt Mile.
On Friday, five Juvenile championships will be run. The first is the Juvenile Turf Sprint which goes off as Race 6. Japan’s Ecoro Sieg is the 7-2 favorite.
Trainer Bob Baffert has three colts entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but Brendan Walsh’s East Avenue is the morning line favorite at 5/2. The G1 Frizette winner Scottish Lassie is favored to win the Juvenile Fillies. Lake Victoria, from the Aidan O’Brien barn, is the 8-5 favorite in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and New Century is the 5-2 pick in the Juvenile Turf.
Nine countries are represented in this year’s Breeders’ Cup from a record five continents, North and South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Purses totaling $34 million will be up for grabs.
JAPANESE CONTINGENT SETTLES IN AT DEL MAR FOR BREEDERS’ CUP
Three years ago, Japanese connections sent a small contingent of horses to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup and walked away with two trophies. Loves Only You won the Filly and Mare Turf and Marche Lorraine captured the Distaff.
Last year, Japanese racing won the Dubai World Cup with Ushba Tesoro, stamping their claim as a major player in international racing.
Fast forward to last Tuesday, when the Japanese arrived at Del Mar with five horse trailers filled with no less than 19 horses, all heading for a date with the Breeders’ Cup on Friday and Saturday.
The horses were quarantined for two days (42 hours) in a barn on the northern edge of the stable area, especially made for the record number of international horses making their way to Southern California this week.
Even Kate Hunter, whose job it is to recruit Japanese horses for the Breeders’ Cup, was surprised at the turnout this year.
“You can tell it’s been gaining momentum year after year,” Hunter says. “As more horses make the trip, the whole journey and the whole process becomes less of a mystery. The breakthrough in 2021 kind of put a little more octane in the fuel.
“Last year, we had a real good number,” Hunter continues. “I was really pleased. We had nine horses and eight runners. It felt like a solid advancement. I was expecting about the same this year.”
The contingent is headed by Ushba Tesoro, Derma Sotagake, who ran in last year’s Kentucky Derby, and Forever Young, a participant in this year’s Kentucky Derby. All are expected to run in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Ushba Tesoro ran fifth in last year’s Classic but posted runner-up finishes in both the Saudi Cup in Riyadh in February and the Dubai World Cup, behind Laurel River, at Meydan in March.
Derma Sotagake ran sixth in the 2023 Kentucky Derby and returned to the States in November to finish second to White Abarrio in Breeders’ Cup Classic. He didn’t fair so well in the big races in the Middle East this year, finishing fifth in the Saudi Cup and sixth in the Dubal World Cup.
Forever Young may well be the best of the bunch. He has one blemish on his seven-race career and that was a close third-place finish behind Mystic Dan and Sierra Leone in this year’s Kentucky Derby. Otherwise, he’s won every race he’s started including his prep for the Breeders’ Cup, the Japan Dirt Mile last month.
“The only hiccup we had (in the shipping to Del Mar) was we had to change the days we flew in because I got too many horses,” Hunter explains with a smile. “They couldn’t fit us all on the plane. So we had to move our shipping up a day because we needed a plane with more space.”
The Japanese have 10 of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races covered. They have entries in all but one of the five races on Friday and they come with three in the Classic and the Sprint, two each in the Turf and the Mile and one entry in the Distaff and the Dirt Mile on Saturday.
Hunter says California’s close proximity to Japan also helps entice Japanese connections to make the trip.
“California and Del Mar being just a nine hour flight really helps,” Hunter insists. “It’s just a quick little jump instead of 12-or-more hours to any other place in the world. It’s the shortest flight for them outside of Hong Kong. I’ve always had the best luck getting horses to come to California.”
COOLING OUT: Breeders’ Cup has made several changes to the landscape at Del Mar but one of the most visually impressive is out of sight from the general public. The walking rings between the barns on the backside have been filled with turf and not the artificial kind but real grass. It’s a nice touch and the horses love it when given a chance to stop and graze…Notable works on Tuesday: Dirt – American Bikini (4f, :52.20); Ecoro Sieg (4f, :49.60); Awesome Result (5f, 1:04.60); Derma Sotogake (5f, :59.40) and Forever Young (5f, 1:04.00).