Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

TVG Featuring Live Coverage Of Seven ‘Win And You’re In’ Races From Santa Anita This Weekend

TVG, America's horse racing network and leading ADW platform, will be live on site at Santa Anita for a loaded opening weekend featuring seven Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” races including the Awesome Again Stakes (GI), a qualifying race for the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) featuring a showdown between two of the top older horses in the country, Maximum Security and Improbable.

There will be expert analysis and exclusive interviews on site at Santa Anita from Todd Schrupp, Britney Eurton and Christina Blacker. They will be joined by Simon Bray and Mike Joyce who will be contributing to the broadcast remotely.

On Saturday, there will be five Breeders' Cup Challenge races on the star-studded eleven race card – the $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes (Juvenile Turf Sprint), the $200,000 Chandelier Stakes (Juvenile Fillies), the $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes (Filly and Mare Turf), the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes (Classic) and the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes (TVG Juvenile).

The Awesome Again Stakes (GI) will feature two of the stars of the Bob Baffert barn – 2019 Eclipse champion three-year-old Maximum Security and multiple Grade 1 winner Improbable. Maximum Security will be reunited with regular rider Luis Saez and comes into this race off of a victory in the TVG Pacific Classic (GI) in August. Improbable was last seen notching his second consecutive Grade 1 of the year in the Whitney Stakes (GI) at Saratoga.

On Sunday, the action continues with the $200,000 Zenyatta Stakes (Distaff) and the $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (Sprint). The Breeders' Cup World Championships will be held on November 6 and 7 at Keeneland.

Fans of international racing can tune in on Friday and Saturday morning as Candice Hare hosts the racing from Newmarket which will feature two Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races – the Shadwell Rockfel Stakes (Juvenile Fillies Turf) and the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes (Juvenile Turf).

TVG's Caleb Keller will be live trackside at Remington Park on Sunday for the track's premier race, the $200,000 Oklahoma Derby (GIII). The race has attracted a field of nine sophomores including graded stakes winner Shared Sense who has been installed as the morning line favorite at odds of 5-2 for trainer Brad Cox.

TVG will also feature racing from marquee venues across the country including Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park and more.

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Frontrunning Fighting Mad Tops ‘Win And You’re In’ Zenyatta Stakes

An impressive gate to wire winner of her last two starts, the Gary and Mary West homebred Fighting Mad looms a standout in Sunday's Grade 2, $200,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita. The Zenyatta, to be contested at a mile and one sixteenth, has attracted a field of five fillies and mares aged three and up.

Trainer Simon Callaghan's Harvest Moon, a 3-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo, has won her last three starts and is an up and comer that will attract considerable pari-mutuel attention. Hard Not to Love, a Grade 1 winner and well accomplished, comes off a dull sixth behind Fighting Mad in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar and will hope to rebound for trainer John Shirreffs.

Named for the legendary winner of the 2009 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita who then became Horse of the Year in 2010 for owners Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs, the Zenyatta is a Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” Challenge Race qualifier to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

FIGHTING MAD

Owner: Gary & Mary West

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Ridden aggressively on the lead going a mile and one sixteenth in her last two starts by Abel Cedillo, she took the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes by 3 ¼ lengths on May 31 and prevailed by a half length in the Grade 1 Hirsch on Aug. 2. A winner of five out her eight starts, this 4-year-old daughter of New Year's Day is at the top of her game and looms strictly the horse to beat in the Zenyatta.

HARVEST MOON

Owner: Alice Bamford & Michael B. Tabor

Trainer: Simon Callaghan

A one mile maiden winner in her second start on July 20 at Los Alamitos, she then rallied to win a first condition allowance at the same distance by 4 ¼ lengths on July 27 at Del Mar. Off again as the 3-2 favorite, she responded with a solid 1 ¼ length score in the Grade 3, one mile Torrey Pines Stakes Aug. 22 and looms a very legitimate danger on Sunday. With Flavien Prat set to ride for the fourth consecutive time, Harvest, who has won three out of her four races, looms a legitimate threat.

HARD NOT TO LOVE

Owner: Mercedes Stables LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds, Scott Dilworth, Dorothy & David Ingordo, Steve Mooney

Trainer: John Shirreffs

Often quirky in the paddock and on the racetrack due to the fact she only has the use of one eye, Hard Not to Love will try to bounce back from a 13 ¼ length drubbing at the hands of Fighting Mad in the Aug. 2 Clement Hirsch. Second, beaten 3 ¼ lengths by Fighting Mad two starts back in the Grade 2 Santa Maria, Hard Not to Love, a 4-year-old Ontario, Canadian-bred filly by Hard Spun is winless in three two turn starts since taking the Grade 2, seven furlong Santa Monica Stakes on Feb. 15.

THE GRADE 2 ZENYATTA STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 4 of 11 Approximate post time 2 p.m. PT

Fighting Mad—Luis Saez—126
Proud Emma—Ricardo Gonzalez—122
Harvest Moon—Flavien Prat—118
Hang a Star—Tyler Baze—122
Hard Not to Love—Mike Smith—122

First post time for an 11-race card on Sunday is at 12:30 p.m. Although there is no public admittance, Santa Anita's races can be viewed free of charge via the track's livestream video at santaanita.com

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Collusion Illusion Takes On C Z Rocket In Santa Anita Sprint Championship

Trainer Mark Glatt's red-hot Collusion Illusion, who seeks his fourth consecutive win and Peter Miller's C Z Rocket, in search of his fifth consecutive win photo, headline a solid field of five 3-year-olds and up in Sunday's Grade II, $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs.

A winner of five out of six starts, Collusion Illusion was all heart in taking Del Mar's Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes by a nose on Aug. 1, while C Z Rocket, in his first graded stakes assignment, proved best by a half length in the Grade II Pat O'Brien going seven furlongs on Aug. 29.

The Santa Anita Sprint Championship is a Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” Challenge Race qualifier, with the winner earning a fees-paid berth into the Grade I Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

COLLUSION ILLUSION

Owner: Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, John Xitco & Dr. Rodney Orr

Trainer: Mark Glatt

Unbeaten in three starts this year, this Florida-bred colt by Twirling Candy earned a career-best Beyer Speed figure of 93 in winning the Crosby and looms the horse to beat from the rail, from which he aired two starts back, taking the Grade III Lazaro Barrera Stakes here by 3 ¼ lengths on June 20. With the only blemish on his form coming in the mile and one sixteenth Grade I American Pharoah in September, 2019, Collusion Illusion is unbeaten in three starts at six furlongs and has won five out of his six career outs.

C Z ROCKET

Owner: Tom Kagele

Trainer: Peter Miller

A miracle $40,000 claim five starts back on April 30 at Oaklawn Park, this 6-year-old City Zip gelding has won all four of starts for Miller, at Churchill Downs, Keeneland and most recently, Del Mar, as he took the seven furlong Pat O'Brien as the even money favorite. Ridden by Flavien Prat in the Pat O'Brien, he'll be ridden for the first time by Luis Saez on Sunday and with a 97 Beyer in hand, should be very tough to beat in his 22nd career start.

FLAGSTAFF

Owner: Lane's End Racing & Hronis Racing, LLC

Trainer: John Sadler

One of the Southern California circuits most consistent sprinters, he made the lead a furlong from home but could not hold off C Z Rocket late when finishing second, beaten a half length in the Grade II Pat O'Brien. A winner of the seven furlong San Carlos Stakes four starts back on March 7, he's kept good company in five starts this year, winning one while three times second.

THE GRADE II SANTA ANITA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST ORDER

Race 8 of 11 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Collusion Illusion—Flavien Prat—122
Desert Law—Juan Hernandez—122
Flagstaff—Victor Espinoza—124
C Z Rocket—Luis Saez—124
Giant Expectations—Abel Cedillo—122

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Baffert Will Leave Awesome Again Strategy Up To Riders Of Maximum Security, Improbable

Maximum Security, the nation's leading older horse, has run at six different tracks in his brilliant 12-race career and will add No. 7 when he debuts at Santa Anita in Saturday's Grade I Awesome Again Stakes.

It is one of five Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge Races presented Saturday, offering the winner a fees-paid berth to their respective Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland Nov. 6 & 7.

Maximum Security is trained by Bob Baffert, who has horses entered in four of the 11 races, seven of them stakes. Four of Baffert's runners also are in “Win and You're In” events: Princess Noor, Varda and $4,000 supplemental nominee Illumination in the Grade I Chandelier Stakes for two-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, and Spielberg in the Grade I American Pharoah Stakes for two-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.

Luis Saez is reunited with Maximum Security and also rides Spielberg and Illumination. Drayden Van Dyke is back aboard Improbable in the Awesome Again. They won the Grade I Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 6.

As for strategy, Baffert tends to leave it up to the riders.

“Saez knows the horse really well and Drayden knows Improbable really well, so they'll just figure it out themselves,” he said. “They know what to do.

“Even in a small field the break is very important, but both horses are doing exceptionally well. Hopefully they'll use this race as a steppingstone to the Big Show (Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7).

“I hate to really run them against each other, but it gives Improbable an extra two weeks to get ready for the Breeders' Cup. He runs better when he's a bit fresher, so that's why we're running them together.”

Improbable doesn't have to carry his track around with him. Of his 13 career races, eight have come on different tracks: Santa Anita, Saratoga, Oaklawn Park, Parx, Del Mar, Pimlico, Churchill Downs and Los Alamitos.

A multiple Grade I-winning son of City Zip, the four-year-old chestnut has won six times with three seconds, earning $1,529,520.

Maximum Security is coming off two straight wins for Baffert at Del Mar, including the Grade I TVG Pacific Classic. The four-year-old son of New Year's Day has won 10 of 12 career starts with an enormous bankroll of $12,191,900.

The bay colt looms an odds-on choice, one of two in that category Baffert has entered Saturday, the other being Princess Noor in the Chandelier Stakes.

Baffert also has the maiden Spielberg entered in the American Pharoah. The chestnut son of Union Rags out of the Smart Strike dam Miss Squeal was second to Dr. Schivel in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs on Sept. 7.

A $1,350,000 daughter of the prodigious young stallion Not This Time, Princess Noor drew the rail against four rivals, two of them also trained by Baffert. She will be going two turns for the first time, having won her debut race on the lead by 2 ½ lengths at 5 ½ furlongs before taking the Grade I Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Sept. 6, coming from just off the pace to vanquish three others by 6 ½ lengths.

She was the 7-10 favorite in both starts, each time ridden by Victor Espinoza, who guided American Pharoah to a Triple Crown sweep for Baffert in 2015 and who retains the mount on Princess Noor Saturday.

“She's fast; she's shown brilliant speed,” Baffert said. “She's coming back a little quick but she's been handling everything we've thrown at her, so we're looking forward to the race.

“I think Spielberg should like two turns. They went really fast early in the Futurity (45 flat for four furlongs and 1:10.60 for six furlongs) and he got beat by a really nice horse.

“I really think two turns will be better for him, just the way he moves and all. He's bred for it.”

The Chandelier, race three: Princess Noor, (2-5) Victor Espinoza; Make Mischief, (5-1) Abel Cedillo; Varda, (8-1) Drayden Van Dyke; Illumination, (6-1) Luis Saez; and Miss Costa Rica, (6-1) Flavien Prat.

The American Pharoah, race eight: Touchdown Brown, (5-1) Juan Hernandez; Rombauer, Mike Smith; Dyn O Mite, (20-1) Victor Espinoza; Notable Exception, (7-2) Abel Cedillo; Spielberg, (3-1) Luis Saez; Get Her Number, (7-2) Flavien Prat; Weston, (6-1) Drayden Van Dyke; and Waspirant, (6-1) Umberto Rispoli.

The Awesome Again, race 10: Take the One O One, (20) Jose Valdivia Jr.; Improbable, (8-5) Drayden Van Dyke; Sleepy Eyed Todd, (12-1) Umberto Rispoli; Midcourt, (6-1) Victor Espinoza; and Maximum Security, (3-5) Luis Saez.

First post time for Saturday's stakes studded card is 12:30 p.m.

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