Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

No Breeders’ Cup For Wonderful Tonight

Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), winner of the G1 Prix de Royallieu and the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. this month, will bypass this year’s Breeders’ Cup with a 4-year-old campaign in mind.

“She’s not going to the Breeders’ Cup–I don’t think it would be fair,” said trainer David Menuisier. “If the filly was four and it was her last ever race, maybe we would have rolled the dice, but in this instance I think it would be greed. I would be scared to ask too much of her and it’s a long way, especially to Kentucky because you have to catch a flight from Amsterdam to New York and then another flight from there. There’s no direct flight, so it would be quite daunting for a youngster.”

Menuisier had previously mentioned next year’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as a goal, but he said options are open as to how Wonderful Tonight will arrive there.

“It’s early days, let’s get through the winter and think about it next year,” he said. “The programme will be written for her really, because being a Group 1 winner you don’t have many choices. Early in the season you have the [G1] Prix Ganay at Longchamp and the [G2] Dahlia S. at Newmarket, and we’ll see where we go from there. We hope she’ll be running in the Arc next October, and before that you have either the [G1] Prix Vermeille or the [G1] Irish Champion S., or there’s the big race in Germany, the [G1] Grosser Preis von Baden.

“How we get to the end of next year, I don’t know yet, it will all depend on the weather. If Royal Ascot is wet we could think about that, or there’s the [G1] King George at Ascot at the end of July. For the moment, we’ll reflect on how good the year has been this year, enjoy it and reload for next year.”

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‘A Good Problem To Have’: Attard Debating Between Two Breeders’ Cup Races For Starship Jubilee

Winner of five of her six starts in 2020, Starship Jubilee is preparing to make the trip south from her Woodbine base to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The 7-year-old daughter of Indy Wind won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile over males in her most recent start, and she won the Grade 1 E. P. Taylor Stakes over 1 1/4 miles in 2019, so there are several options for her on Nov. 7.

Her trainer, Kevin Attard, is still waiting to decide whether he'll enter Starship Jubilee in the Breeders' Cup Mile or the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, according to the Toronto Sun.

“Obviously we want to give her the best shot of performing her best and (the decision) is going to come down to trying to see who's running where,” Attard told the Sun. “We've got a decent enough idea, but when we watch the pre-entries come out it's going to be a little more clear in that sense. The good thing about my filly is, she's very versatile. She's obviously shown that she can run a mile, she's shown she can run a mile and a quarter and we're lucky enough that the Filly& Mile Turf is 1 3/16ths. And that's within her wheelhouse – a little shorter than the 1 1/4 distance, which I like. But at the same token, she ran such a big race in the Woodbine Ricoh Mile, then you have to consider running her against the boys again one more time. It's a good problem to have.”

Named the Canadian Horse of the Year in 2019, Starship Jubilee was a $16,000 claim three years ago. She has since won a dozen stakes races, including two Grade 1 races, and earned over $2 million. Her record ahead of the Breeders' Cup stands at 19-5-3 from 38 starts, and she's showing no signs of slowing down.

“You don't really expect them to be around at seven (years old),” Attard told the Sun. “It's not really the normal that we see here in racing. But the fact is, she's arguably at her best now. She enjoys what she's doing… Every time you think the chapter's done and the book might be ready to close, she's on to the next chapter. So I'm enjoying the ride and I'm going to keep going with it.”

Little Movement In NTRA 3-Year-Old, Top Thoroughbred Polls Ahead Of Breeders’ Cup

Less than two weeks out from the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland on Nov. 6-7, there was little change in both the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top 3-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll and NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Ahead of his expected start in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic, Kentucky Derby winner Authentic continues to hold down the top spot in the Three-Year-Old Poll with 15 first-place votes and 330 points. The son of Into Mischief tuned up for the Breeders' Cup with a seven-furlong breeze in 1:24.40 at Santa Anita Park on October 24, his second timed workout since finishing second in the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes.

Belmont and Travers Stakes winner Tiz the Law is also slated to be one of the top contenders for the Breeders' Cup Classic and moved back into the No. 2 spot on the poll this week with 10 first-place votes and 323 points. The son of Constitution arrived at Keeneland last week where he worked six furlongs in 1:13.20 on Oct. 23.

Preakness Stakes heroine Swiss Skydiver, who remains under consideration for either the Breeders' Cup Distaff or Classic, dips one spot this week to third with 11 first-place votes and 318 points. Grade 2 winner Art Collector (193 points) ranks fourth, ahead of Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Happy Saver (178).

Grade 1 winner Honor A. P., who was retired last month to Lane's End Farm, remains sixth with 120 points followed by multiple Grade 1 winner Gamine (94 points), who is expected to contest the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

Max Player takes over sole possession of the eighth spot this week with 77 points, one point ahead of Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil (76). Mystic Guide, who was second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, rounds out the top 10 with 67 points.

Multiple Grade 1 winner and likely Breeders' Cup Classic favorite Improbable maintains his lead in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll with 31 first-place votes and 355 points. Trained by Bob Baffert, Improbable will bring a three-race win streak into the Classic and clocked a seven-furlong work in 1:25 on Oct. 25.

Champion Maximum Security remains behind his stablemate in the poll with 2 first-place votes and 262 points. Multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma (1 first-place vote, 217 points) remains third with expected Breeders' Cup Classic contender Tom's d'Etat (2 first-place votes, 213 points) in fourth.

Monomoy Girl, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, holds in fifth with 197 points followed by multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards (138 points). Authentic (119 points) and Tiz the Law (116) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, with Swiss Skydiver (101) and multiple Grade 1 winner Rushing Fall (67) completing the top 10.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

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‘Glad To Be In It’: Forster Excited For First Breeders’ Cup With Dirt Mile Hopeful Pirate’s Punch

Nestled five miles from Churchill Downs, trainer Grant Forster is eagerly preparing for the biggest race of his career at Trackside Louisville where Gulliver Racing, Craig Drager and Dan Legan's five-time winner Pirate's Punch will tackle a likely full field of competitors in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (Grade I) on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“Sort of like every horse trainer, I'm just holding my breath until we get there,” Forster said. “It's been a great ride so far with this horse and the (Dirt Mile) is shaping up to be a really competitive. It'll be a tough field but we're glad to be in it.”

Pirate's Punch had a unique two-race stand over the summer when Forster shipped the Shanghai Bobby gelding to Monmouth Park to compete in the $200,000 Philip Iselin Stakes (GIII) and one month later returned for the $155,000 Salvator Mile (GIII). In the Philip Iselin, the gutsy Pirate's Punch finished a half-length in front of Warrior's Charge but was subsequently disqualified and placed second following a stewards' inquiry and objection lodged by the runner-up finisher's jockey Paco Lopez.

Forster would return to Monmouth for redemption in the Salvator Mile where Pirate's Punch scored a convincing two-length score and sealed his likely starting gate position in the Dirt Mile.

In the Breeders' Cup, East Coast-based jockey Jorge Vargas Jr., who rode Pirate's Punch in each of his two starts at Monmouth, will ship to Kentucky to ride in the Breeders' Cup. The 26-year-old Vargas, whose grandfather and father both trained horses in his native Puerto Rico, is named to ride Shimmering (IRE) for trainer Graham Motion on Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

“He's rode Pirate's Punch perfectly in his last two starts, so why not continue to use him for the Breeders' Cup,” Forster said. “He's coming to Kentucky early and hopes to ride a few at Churchill before the Breeders' Cup.”

Starting on Friday, there will be a special training period from 7:30-7:45 a.m. for Breeders' Cup contenders. The special training session is scheduled to run through Wednesday, Nov. 4.

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