Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Pletcher Breezes Breeders’ Cup Dozen at Keeneland

Trainer Todd Pletcher breezed a remarkable 12 of his intended Breeders' Cup starters at Keeneland on Thursday morning over the main track.

Heading the dozen was GI Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful Bright Future (Curlin), who arrived in Kentucky this week from Saratoga. He worked five furlongs in 1:01.40. Also working five furlongs for a possible Breeders' Cup start was Charge It (Tapit), who covered the distance in 1:01.20.

“We originally were going to work all of our Saturday (Nov. 4) horses tomorrow but with rain in the forecast for tomorrow, we moved it up a day,” Pletcher said. “It was a good morning, and I was pleased with all the works. They did what we wanted them to.”

Among the dozen workers were three Grade I winners from Keeneland's Fall Stars Weekend.

Coolmore Turf Mile winner Up to the Mark (Not This Time) breezed a half-mile in :50.20 in company with 2022 Coolmore Turf Mile winner Annapolis (War Front); Darley Alcibiades winner Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}) worked a half-mile in :49; and Claiborne Breeders' Futurity winner and `TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) worked a half-mile in :48.20.

The remainder of the Pletcher brigade each worked half-miles: `TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) (:49.60), `TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) (:48.40), Life Talk (Gun Runner) (:49), Life's an Audible (Audible) (:50), Noted (Cairo Prince) (:49.60) and Scalable (Speightstown) (:49.60).

Pletcher said he planned to give his runners one more work at Keeneland next Thursday or Friday before shipping to Santa Anita on Oct. 28.

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Del Mar to Trim Fall Meet Purses in 3-11% Range

Purses at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club are getting a haircut for the 13-date fall meet that spans Nov. 10-Dec. 3.

Del Mar executives speaking about the meet at Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting did not initially mention the purse cuts when making their standard presentation for licensure, which the CHRB unanimously granted.

But Del Mar's president, Josh Rubinstein, detailed the reductions when directly queried about the state of purses by CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales.

“We have reduced purses slightly for this fall meet,” Rubinstein said. “[We're] coming off two years of record wagering at Del Mar in 2021 and '22, and what we've seen nationally this year across the board in the industry, handle has been down eight of nine months.

“We think there are multiple reasons for that,” Rubinstein continued. “My own personal view is we're in a fairly soft economy right now–higher interest rates, inflation concerns–and there's just less discretionary income that people have. So we are matching purse levels to what we believe will be the handle generation for the meet.”

Rubinstein termed the cuts as “a market correction from where we were the last two years. So depending on the race, anywhere from 3% to 11%, but still some of the highest purses in the country during this time.”

Tom Robbins, Del Mar's executive vice president for racing and industry relations, told the CHRB that the 15-stakes schedule “remains intact” compared to last fall's meet.

Rubinstein noted that the fall season at Del Mar is traditionally a scaled-back version of racing compared to the track's nationally prominent summertime flagship meet that extends over two months. Instead of some 2,000 horses being stabled on the grounds, there are more like 350-400, with the remainder of runners shipping in from Santa Anita Park or Los Alamitos Race Course.

To help defray the costs of travel, Del Mar will be paying trainers a $250 stipend on each racing day they participate in the fall meet.

“We realize it's expensive for trainers to come down to Del Mar,” Rubinstein said.

Del Mar will race Fridays (8 races), plus Saturdays and Sundays (nine races). A Thanksgiving Thursday holiday program will also be carded.

Horses will be allowed to ship in for stabling Sunday, Nov. 5, the day after the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita. Del Mar opens for morning training Nov. 6.

Del Mar has scheduled November/December fall meets regularly since 2014, when the track filled a void in the Southern California racing schedule after Hollywood Park's 2013 closure. Prior to 2014, Del Mar's only other attempt at autumn racing was a 20-date October meet in 1967.

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Breeders’ Cup Pre-Entry Announcement to be Televised and Streamed Live

The announcement of pre-entered fields for this year's Breeders' Cup championship weekend will be televised live on FanDuel TV and on Breeders' Cup website, official Mobile App, and Facebook, X, and YouTube channels Oct. 25 at 9 a.m. PT/12:00 p.m. ET.

The pre-entry announcement will be hosted by FanDuel TV talent Christina Blacker and Joaquin Jaime.

Featuring 14 Grade I races and $31 million in purses and awards, the 40th running of the Breeders' Cup World Championships will be held Nov. 2 and 4 at Santa Anita. Fields for the races will be drawn Oct. 30.

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Pat Day Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Just a few days removed from his 70th birthday, Pat Day joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to talk his career, what he's been up to since retiring in 2005 and, most of all, the Breeders' Cup. Day rode Wild Again to victory in the inaugural GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 1984 and it was an historic win that helped turn the future Hall of Famer into one of the biggest stars in the sport. Day was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“What that race meant for my career was monumental,” Day said. “First of all, let me back up. In January of 84, that was when I came to Christ. I was a stone alcoholic and a drug addict and was still highly successful in the midst of that. On January 27th of 1984, I accepted Christ into my life and got set free from that addictive lifestyle. I recognized that God had blessed me with tremendous talent and ability and opportunities and I started treating that with the respect that it deserved. Subsequently, I had an incredible year capped by the victory with Wild Again in the inaugural Breeders' Cup. That helped secure my first of four Eclipse Awards. I don't know that you could put a price on just what that did for my career. It was tremendous and catapulted me to the next level. I started getting opportunities after that to participate in the major races all over the country and to ride some of the top choices in those races.

If the Wild Again win was Day's top Breeders' Cup moment, his loss to Sunday Silence aboard Easy Goer in the 1989 Classic was surely his worst.

“When they came off the turn, Easy Goer was slow to change leads,” Day said. “He finally did. When he did, he caught on and accelerated, but obviously it was too little, too late. There was just so much hanging in the balance. The Eclipse Award for top 3-year-old. Horse of the Year. There were some tremendous accolades that hung in the balance. That Breeders' Cup was hard and the second hardest pill to swallow with him would have been the Preakness. I think I rode a horrible race and I think that I cost him the race in the Preakness. Easy Goer was a great horse. The best I ever rode. I know the record doesn't reflect it but I still think he was better than Sunday Silence.”

Who was his toughest opponent?

“Day in and day out, the smartest, strongest rider I rode against on a regular basis was Jerry Bailey,” Day said. “He would draw up a game plan and he was able to implement that game plan just about every time.”

Who was the most competitive rider he ever went up against?

“With that subject, Angel Cordero's name always comes up,” he said. “We would laughingly say he could ride two or three horses in a race. Angel, I love you, man. He was an astute handicapper. And if he handicapped the race and he felt that you had the horse to beat, he was going to beat you. He felt like if he beat you he would win the race. He was very competitive.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by 1/ST Racing, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, WinStar Farm, the KTOB, XBTV and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley discussed Frankie Dettori's decision to postpone his retirement and focus on U.S. racing in 2024 and the GI Kentucky Derby. The team agreed that Dettori, who has been riding in top form this year, deserved at least one more year. Finley predicted he might decide to keep riding for two or three more years. They also reviewed last week's action which included a win by European shipper Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the GI Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland and the ultra-impressive win by City of Troy (Justify) in the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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