Breeders' Cup Weekend Preview: Horses, Jockeys, Trainers to Watch

by Steve Davidowitz | Nov 4 2011

The 2011 Breeders' Cup  is finally here. With so much territory to cover in a two-day international racing event that will feature over 175 world-class horses running in 15 spectacular races worth $26 million ― the best place to start is with the big names on the program: GOLDIKOVA, HAVRE DE GRACE and UNCLE MO,  to name a few.

Let me cover those three high profile horses with one paragraph each:

The great French based race mare GOLDIKOVA, now six years of age, will be trying to win her fourth consecutive Breeders' Cup Mile  on Saturday and if she does, we probably will not see a repeat of the feat for several decades, if ever. Frankly, we might not ever see her three-peat either.

HAVRE DE GRACE, attempting to beat male rivals just as the great ZENYATTA did two years ago, and just as Zenyatta just failed to do it again last year, will be crowned almost by acclamation as the 2011 Horse of the Year if she wins the 1-1/4 mile, $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

The imposing, yet lightly raced UNCLE MO last year's Juvenile Champion, by virtue of his win at this track in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile – is the morning line favorite to win the Classic, but realistically is considered a longshot by most experts to pull off the feat. After all, he has only raced 7 furlongs in August and a mile in October to be ready for his stiff test at 1-1/4 miles.

There, I believe I covered the three highest profile stories of this 28th running of the Breeders' Cup and we will all find out in successive races on Saturday evening how Goldikova made out in the Breeders' Cup Mile and how Uncle Mo and Havre de Grace fared against a competitive group in the Classic. I mean this might not be a field that includes Citation or Count Fleet, but it does include a strong European, performer in SO YOU THINK, plus the winners of the past two Belmont Stakes—DROSSELMEYER and RULER ON ICE; the first and second place finishers in the Travers Stakes – STAY THIRSTY and RATTLESNAKE BRIDGE, as well as the Santa Anita Handicap – Goodwood Stakes winner GAME ON DUDE and the Jockey Club Gold Cup winner FLAT OUT.  

As for the competition in the Breeders' Cup Mile, we have the two horses that Goldikova beat the past two seasons—COURAGEOUS CAT (2009) and GIO PONTI (2010), plus a trio of fast Euro milers who were sent here because their connections know they will get more prestige from beating Goldikova than perhaps any other race they ever will run.

As for the rest of the story lines and the other 13 Breeders' Cup races, we have several undefeated horses in the five different Breeders' Cup Juvenile Races on and off the turf course including a new Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint with a very fast undefeated horse (SECRET CIRCLE); a great renewal of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with the THE FACTOR set to break from post one against 2011 Preakness winner SHACKLEFORD; an equally compelling Breeders' Cup Sprint with the very fast EUROEARS matched against last year's winner BIG DRAMA and the highly rated JACKSON BEND in position to take full advantage if there is a speed duel.

On the Turf, the European contingent might be the strongest from top to bottom in the history of this world class event.

In both the Breeders' Cup Turf  at 1-1/2 miles and the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1-3/8 miles, the top contenders are all accomplished Euro imports while the American based horses seem so overmatched they might struggle to crack the Trifectas.

Among jockeys and trainers we have many previous winners of Breeders' Cup races including Alain De Royer and John Gosden who won Breeders' Cup Turf races in the very first Breeders' Cup in 1984.

D Wayne Lukas, Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, three of the most prolific winners of Breeders' Cup races are back with live contenders. So are the top European trainers Aidan O'Brien, Andre Fabre and Sir Michael Stoute.

Maryland based trainer Michael Matz is here with the undefeated 2 year old UNION RAGS. In case you may have forgotten, Matz trained BARBARO, the ill fated winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Graham Motion also is here, back at Churchill Downs where he trained ANIMAL KINGDOM to his 2011 Kentucky Derby win at 21-1.
 
French based jockey Christophe Lemaire, is here too, even though he was the winning jockey aboard DUNADEN in the Melbourne Cup in Australia on Monday and had to fly more than 13,000 miles to get there from Paris and 10,000 miles to go fr4om Melbourne to Kentucky. All that for a 3-minute ride in a rich 2 mile race and another couple of shots at glory and gold Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs. One of Lemaire's Breeders' Cup mounts in fact, is the top notch race mare SARAFINA who may be the betting favorite to defeat males in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf.

About 50,000 racing fans will be here, paying World Series prices and they will be wagering some healthy sums, as will millions of horseplayers around the world in what has become a horseplayer's annual holiday and one of the greatest two days of racing on the planet. It will get started at 2:00 PM, EDT on Friday, with four preliminary races before six Breeders' Cup races. By design Friday's final race will be the $2 million Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic  that will run under the lights at about 7:30 PM.

On Saturday at 12:05 PM, EDT we will start all over again, this time with only two preliminary races before the nine Breeders' Cup races get into gear at 1:20 PM.

If you would like to read up on who I think might win any of these races, check out the “Face Off” articles in the Bodog Racebook that fellow handicapper Dave Tuley and I have put together for the third straight year. He's stuck in Vegas, poor guy, and I'm here at Churchill Downs, the center of the racing universe for the next few days. After that, I'll be happy to join Dave back in Vegas.

Good luck with your Breeders' Cup wagers !

Bodog's got all the info you'll need to bet on the Breeders' Cup in the newly revised 2011 Breeders' Cup betting guide !