This year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championship races will be held over two days – Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5 at Lexington, Kentucky’s stately Keeneland Race Course and as usual it will have a strong Saratoga connection. The beautiful fall Keeneland setting is complemented by the surrounding world-class horse farms affording fans the opportunity to visit past champions as well as current contenders. In addition to its racecourse, Keeneland is the industry’s leading auction house founded in 1936. Keeneland’s mission is to continually invest in the industry and to preserve the tradition of Thoroughbred racing. It’s motto “Racing as it was meant to be” resonates with many in Saratoga who revere racing traditions and customs.
Like most years the Breeders’ Cup will feature many horses that ran at Saratoga this summer or have a significant Saratoga ties.
The Breeders’ Cup series of races spans two days of racing at varying distances, surfaces and categories. This years’ event will feature 14 races for total purses of more than $31 million. The five races featuring two-year-olds will be run on Friday’s card which is dubbed “Future Stars Friday.” The remaining nine races for older horses will be run Saturday, Nov. 5, with the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic ending the card with an expected post time of 5:40 p.m. The races will be televised live on USA Network and FanDuel TV (formerly TVG) with the Classic being shown on NBC between 3:30 and 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Breeders’ Cup event was first run in 1984 and was created to be a televised season ending event much like the Super Bowl or World Series. Having initially eschewed television coverage for fear of giving away its product, racing found itself with a shrinking fan base and difficulty creating new fans. The traditional stakes races were televised but predicting who would run and how much interest there would be in any particular fall stakes race proved difficult and not conducive to television promotion. As a multi-race event the Breeders’ Cup was meant to assure the appearance of stars and fans. While it was originally meant to rotate among North American race tracks (and it did so in its early years) in recent years, due to a myriad of factors including weather and politics, it has alternated between California and Kentucky. The races draw stars and challengers from each racing division with a formidable complement of runners from overseas.
One interesting statistic from a handicapping perspective, longshots have done extremely well in the series since its inception. A flat win bet on all runners that started at odds of 20-1 or above shows a significant profit and return on investment.
This year the Breeders’ Cup entrants are owned by a mixture of traditional owners and diversified ownership groups. Saratoga-based West Point Thoroughbreds will be front and center having partial ownership of undefeated super horse - Flightline - who will be the overwhelming favorite in the Classic while other entrants will be owned by traditional private stables.
Like most years, this one will see several equine stars try to eclipse their respective fields at short odds to claim champion status in their respective divisions. However the major focus of the two days will by Flightline and his super star status.
Flightline is undefeated and unchallenged albeit, in a lightly raced career. He has produced runaway victories in each of his starts and showed the speed to control the race on the front end as well as the ability to stalk a speedy opponent. To date there does not appear to be any weakness in his performances. The field of challengers will be replete with horses that ran this year at Saratoga. Older runners including the speedy Life is Good and the steady winner Olympiad (who also has a Saratoga connection through owner LNJ Foxwoods) are expected to challenge. Three-year-old runners taking on older horses for the first time in the Classic include Travers winner Epicenter and Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike.
Earlier on Saturday The Distaff for fillies and mares will see one of two Todd Pletcher-trained Saratoga winners – Malathaat or Nest go to the post as favorite.
The focus on the grass races will be on the European entrants who have typically performed well on Keeneland’s grass course as both the weather and the surface are conducive to their conditioning and running style. Internationally based runners have factored in each running of the series.
For many runners it will be their final race before moving onto the breeding shed to pass on their genes to future generations. This annual two-day flurry of first class racing usually provides lasting memories. It is well worth the watch.
