Key events
Show key events only
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies!
Share
Explora is going to go off as favourite for the Juvenile Fillies’, she’s a 9-5 chance on the local tote. Tommy Jo is next in on 7-2, while Percy’s Bar is a 6-1 shot.
Share
PREVIEW: Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, 8f, turf
All change in the betting for this race after Precise was ruled out due to an infection earlier today, and Frankie Dettori’s mount Imaginationthelady is now among the market leaders. She won the Grade Two Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland in October, coming from midfield with a perfectly-timed run. Time To Dream was just over a length behind her in third and also has obvious prospects now that Precise is a scratch, while Queen Of Hawaii is also a big runner from stall two for Joseph O’Brien. She’s only won at Group Three level thus far but has progressed with every race and has clearly been aimed at this from a long way out by a trainer with an excellent Breeders’ Cup record. Brave Deb, meanwhile, is an outsider to consider, she won the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita last time.
KEY FORM:
G2 Jessamine Stakes, Keeneland, 8.5f, 3 Oct 25 (Imaginationthelady, Infinite Sky, Time To Dream)
P G Johnson, Saratoga, 8.5f, 27 Aug 25 (Time To Dream)
G3 Surfer Girl Stakes, Santa Anita, 8f, 5 Oct 25 (Brave Deb)
SELECTION: QUEEN OF HAWAII
Share
Did I mention my pick for the Juvenile Fillies? It doesn’t look like I did, I’m going with Percy’s Bar to set the record straight after being demoted from first in the Spinaway.
Share
Brussels was finishing best of all in that race, and appeared to lose more ground than he was beaten by with a very poor start, reminiscent of days of yore when Aidan O’Brien’s Breeders’ Cup runners routinely fell out of the stalls and gifted the field a lead. True Love, who never figured, was slow to stride too.
Taking nothing away from Cy Fair, though. Irad Ortiz jun rode a perfect race on the 5-1 shot from an iffy draw in 10.
Share
BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE TURF SPRINT RESULT:
1. CY FAIR, 2. Brussels, 3. Aspect Island.
Share
Cy Fair is finishing with a wet sail, so too Aspect Island but it’s going to be Cy Fair’s day, he beats Brussels and Aspect Island
Share
Brussels missed the kick … Schwarzenneger soon leads from 11 and is piling it on, Frankie’s settled mid-division …
Into the stretch, Schwarzenneger still leads but Cy Fair is bearing down while Brussels stays on really well from off the pace …
Share
Going in steadily … Brussels is a little and needs a helping hand or two but he’s in now …. Aspect Island and Frankie are in … and …
They are off and running in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint!
Share
They are starting to canter towards the stalls ahead of the Juvenile Turf Sprint. True Love still heads the betting here, while Cy Fair remains popular with the local punters. The winner of the Algonquin Stakes at Woodbine last time is 4-1 here at the track, but several points bigger with the bookies back at home.
Share
Ten minutes to post time for the Juvenile Turf Sprint, and little change to the betting with True Love still favourite at 5-2. The first of Frankie Dettori’s five Breeders’ Cup mounts, Aspect Island, is currently paying 40-1 on the machine.
Share
PREVIEW: Juvenile Fillies, 1m 110yd, dirt
Bob Baffert has a strong hand here with Explora and Bottle Of Rouge, the first two fillies in the betting at present, and there is a direct form line to ponder as Bottle Of Rouge was a one-length winner of the Grade One Del Mar Debutante Stakes over 7f in September with Explora in second. Explora made the running and Bottle Of Rouge ground her way past inside the final furlong, but Explora subsequently improved to run out a highly impressive winner of the Oak Leaf at Santa Anita and is favourite to reverse the earlier form with Bottle Of Rouge today. La Wally, meanwhile, was third in the Debutante and staying on well at the death, so should be suited by the extra distance here. Tommy Jo arrives with two Grade One wins already, in the Spinaway at Saratoga over seven furlongs and then the Alcibiades over an extended mile at Keeneland. She was hugely impressive in Spinaway, sitting a couple of lengths off a strong page (22.22sec for the quarter-mile then 44.54sec for the half), powered into the on the turn and went clear. The Alcibiades was closer, though, as Percy’s Bar set a fair pace, was first past the post but then demoted, having given Tommy Jo a bump halfway down the stretch. The other big trial for this is the Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct in New York, won extremely narrowly this year by Iron Orchard, with the third home over four lengths further back.
KEY FORM:
G1 Debutante Stakes, Del Mar, 7f, 6 Sep 25 (Bottle Of Rouge, Explora, La Wally)
Debutante
G1 Spinaway Stakes, Saratoga, 7f, 30 Aug 25 (Tommy Jo, Percy’s Bar)
Spinaway
G1 Alcibiades Stakes, Keeneland, 8.5f, 3 Oct 25 (Tommy Jo, Percy’s Bar)
Alcibiades
G1 Frizette Stakes, Aqueduct, 8f, 4 Oct 25 (Iron Orchard)
Frizette
G2 Oak Leaf Stakes, Santa Anita, 8.5f, 5 Oct 25 (Explora)
Oak LeafShare
The last of five warm-up events before the Breeders’ Cup starts in earnest has just been run here at Del Mar, and a market is starting to form for the Juvenile Turf Sprint in just under half-an-hour.
As expected, True Love is just about top of the list on 5-2, with George Weaver’s Cy Fair on 4-1 and Schwarzenegger at 5-1. Brussels, the mount of Christophe Soumillon from stall one, is 11-1, though this is a PMU betting system and the pool will be fairly modest at present.
Share
Preview: Juvenile Turf Sprint
Aidan O’Brien’s True Love, the winner of the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes, was the early favourite for this race and still heads the market despite picking up a distinctly sub-optimal draw in stall nine. She beat Havana Anna, trained by O’Brien’s younger son, Donnacha, by three-quarters of a length there and it looks like the strongest form on offer, although O’Brien also fields Brussels, second in both the Middle Park Stakes and then the Cornwallis, as useful backup. Brussels also has a decent draw in one, though he has had six races already this season including four since 8 August. Other interesting runners include Frankie Dettori’s mount, Aspect Island, from the burgeoning dual-purpose James Owen stable, who was just behind Brussels in the Cornwallis, while the front-running Schwarzenegger is the shortest-priced US-trained runner. Wesley Ward’s colt posted some very warm fractions at Keeneland last time out and is an interesting each-way chance, even from a tricky draw in stall 11.
KEY FORM:
G1 Cheveley Park Stakes, Newmarket, 27 Sep 25 (True Love, Havana Anna).
Cheveley Park
G3 Cornwallis Stakes, Newmarket, 10 Oct 25 (Brussels, Aspect Island)
Cornwallis
Indian Summer Stakes, Keeneland, 5 Oct 25 (Schwarzenegger, Obliteration)
Indian Summer
SELECTION: SCHWARZENEGGER (e/w)
Share
Preamble
Hello from the wonderful Del Mar racetrack 20 miles north of San Diego, where Bing Crosby, no less, was a founding member of the board – and also sold the first ticket on opening day in 1937. The walls of the magnificent main stand are covered with photographs and memorabilia from nearly a century of racing here – famous names to have won here include Seabiscuit, Bill ‘The Shoe” Shoemaker, Zenyatta and many more – and there will be more racing history to be made later today on the first afternoon of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup.
The five Breeders’ Cup races on the Friday card are all for two-year-olds – two on the dirt and three on the turf – but the early news here is of disappointing late scratches from the European team, with both Aidan O’Brien’s Precise, the warm favourite for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, and Military Code, a leading fancy for the Juvenile Turf Sprint (21.45 GMT) both now out of their respective races.
Precise’s absence is blow for the meeting, but it does leave the locally-trained Imaginationthelady, ridden by a certain, soon-to-be-retired jockey called Frankie Dettori, as one of the favourites for the Grade One event at 23.45 GMT.
Even with Military Code out, though, the European challenge for the Juvenile Turf Sprint remains strong, with runners trained by various members of the O’Brien family filling four of the top five spots in the betting.
Previews of the five Breeders’ Cup events, including video form to assist in the finalising of selections, will be along soon, and the 2025 Breeders’ Cup will be underway in just under an hour, so stay tuned – or keep refreshing – for all the news, betting moves, results, post-race comments and more as one of the world’s most exciting and valuable race meetings goes through the gears.
Share
