Litfin At Large: Coast to Coast Breeders' Cup Preps

There are Breeders' Cup preps galore on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean this weekend, including six graded stakes Oct. 6 that are win-and-in events for their respective divisions: The Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G1), and a classy pick four at Keeneland consisting of the Thoroughbred Club Of America (G2),  First Lady Stakes (G1),Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) and Shadwell Turf Mile (G1T).

Several of the above-mentioned races will be televised live on NBC from 4:30-6 ET.

Here are some points to ponder as late afternoon unfolds.

Champagne (Bel, race 10, 5:35 ET): Nine of the 10 juveniles exit wins at five different tracks, including the Chad Brown-trained pair of morning-line favorite Complexity (4), who dazzled in his debut, and Aurelius Maximus (9), who has a race over the course and trip under his belt after splashing away from maidens in the slop opening weekend. Last year, Good Magic  ran a close second in this race for Brown, and went on to take the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and a division title.

The lone entrant with experience in graded stakes is Call Paul (5), who won his debut at Delaware Park over eventual Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Mind Control, and then survived a rough-and-tumble stretch battle to prevail in the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) for Jason Servis, who saddled last year's Champagne winner Firenze Fire.

When Shug McGaughey sends out a 2-year-old debut winner, it's news, so the front-running score by the William S. Farish homebred Code of Honor (8) may be a harbinger of things to come. In 2013, these same connections unveiled Honor Code , a winner at the Spa who was beaten a neck in the Champagne as a second-time starter as the 9-5 favorite.

Endorsed (1) is stuck on the rail, often a troublesome spot in mile races at Belmont, but the Medaglia d'Oro  colt won at first asking with an inside-out trip from off the pace.

A - 5, 8

B - 1, 4, 9

TCA (Kee, race 7, 4:05 ET): Annually an impactful race in the filly-and-mare sprint division, this 10-runner edition is wide open, with five contenders pegged anywhere from 3-1 to 5-1.

Rain earlier in the week, along with a 40% chance of storms Saturday, could bode well for the mud lark Vertical Oak(4), who was much farther back than usual but still got up to win the Open Mind Stakes at Churchill Downs three weeks ago. She's an "A" if the track is wet, and a "B" if it's not.

The top three finishers from the 2017 Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2), including major threats Miss Sunset (3) and Chalon (9), meet again here. The California-based Miss Sunset has won five of six outings under Mike Smith, and comes off a sharp return score at Del Mar, while Chalon has won twice from three starts at age 4, along with a second in the Vagrancy Handicap (G3) over a wet track.

Happy Like a Fool (6) has won three of four dirt starts, and the sophomore filly tries older in her first appearance since taking a sloppy renewal of the Miss Preakness in the spring.

Golden Mischief (7) has improved her record at six furlongs to 7-1-0 from 10 starts after beating up on softer opposition over the summer for Brad Cox.

Awestruck (5) is intriguing at 15-1 on line as she repeats the previously successful form pattern of cutting back in distance off a layoff. In fact, both of her wins at Keeneland involved turn backs.

A - 3, 7, 9

B - 4, 6

C - 5

First Lady (Kee, race 8, 4:40 ET): Chad Brown accounts for 30% of the field with the threesome of 2-1 favorite Quidura(3), 3-1 second choice A Raving Beauty (2) and Off Limits (10), who was beaten by those two over the summer.

Quidura comes off two sharp efforts this season capped by a front-end win in the Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T), but may have to deal with La Sardane (9) through the early going. Such a scenario could bode well for either of the Europeans, Crown Walk (4), who is first-time Lasix and coming off a runner-up finish in the Prix Rothschild (G1T) at Deauville, and /or Indian Blessing (5), who was slow to settle but rallied for third behind Quidura in her United States debut.

Crown Walk and Indian Blessing both won at the group 3 level overseas and are rated virtual equals by European form standards, but the former is 4-1 on the line while the latter is 12-1. Here's hoping that turns out to be a happy little discrepancy.

A - 2, 3

B - 4, 5, 10

Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (Kee, race 9, 5:14 ET): All the usual uncertainties about juveniles stretching out are in play with a full gate of 14 arriving from six different tracks.

The all-important run to the first turn should be quite a show as Unionizer (4), Mr. Ankeny (10) and Mind Control (13) jockey for position up front, with several others in hot pursuit.

Mr. Ankeny is among a trio entered by Dale Romans, along with Everfast(6) and Moonster (9), who are both owned by Calumet Farm. Everfast gets a better draw after beginning from the 12-hole and running a credible fifth in the Iroquois Stakes (G3).

Exiting a wide-trip fourth in the Iroquois is Tobacco Road (8), one of two in here for Hall Of Famer Steve Asmussen along with Fluminense (3), who goes turf to dirt and puts blinkers on after being blocked at the top of the stretch as the favorite on yielding ground at Woodbine off an eight-week break.

Todd Pletcher has been mired in a horrible run with his stakes performers the past few months, but Sombeyay (2) has been stretching out gradually all season, and could improve off a fourth in the Hopeful from a cozy spot near the inside.

Meanwhile, Standard Deviation (14) begins closest to the stands, after beating five rivals in his off-the-turf debut at Saratoga Race Course.

A - 5, 8, 10

B - 2, 6, 13

C - 3, 14

Shadwell Turf Mile (Kee, race 10, 5:49 ET): Well, it would be just plain silly to leave out the Shadwell Stable-owned Qurbaan (7), wouldn't it? Especially since he overcame an eventful start to get up for a nose victory in the Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2T) in his United States bow and has followed up with a pair of bullet workouts.

Neither can we let the 3-year-old Analyze It(9) get away without us in this situation. After three stretch-long battles from nine to 10 furlongs, two of those against Catholic Boy, the subsequent winner of the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), he figures to benefit from the cutback. Moreover, he showed an electrifying turn of foot taking the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania Stakes (G3T) over a yielding Keeneland course to begin the season.

Any give in the ground looms a potential drawback for tepid morning-line choice Heart to Heart (5), and also for Almanaar(11), who was notched all five of his turf wins on firm turf.

As the saying goes, horses can get bad trips from good posts and they can get good trips from bad posts, so at a price we'll hope the latter scenario falls into place for Bound for Nowhere(14), who has won all five of his U.S. starts including the Shakertown Stakes (G2T) on soft turf at Keeneland.

A - 7, 9

B - 5, 11, 14

Santa Anita Sprint Championship (SA, race 5, 2:30 PT): After splitting their first four meetings, this is Round 5 between Roy H (2), who won this race at odds-on last year en route to a division crown, and Ransom the Moon  (5), who is already assured a berth in the Breeders' Cup TwinSpires Sprint (G1) by virtue of winning the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) when last seen in late July.

Peter Miller, the trainer of Roy H, also entered Distinctive B(3), who has no stakes experience whatsoever and looks to be in merely to provide some pace.

Both of John Sadler's geldings, Horse Greedy (1) and Edwards Going Left (4), are in tough.

Not much to do here. Let's go with the K.I.S.S. System, i.e. for multi-race play cover the two favorites and leave it at that.