Breeders’ Cup Diaries: A Busy Morning

I love the contained chaos that is Clocker’s Corner on Breeders’ Cup mornings. There are so many outstanding horses on the grounds, and they all take their morning exercise within a few hours of each other; meanwhile, high-profile human stars of racing mix it up with fans and press over coffee as Thoroughbreds train all around them.
It’s an experience like no other and honestly one of my favorite parts of the Breeders’ Cup experience at Santa Anita Park.

There were plenty of Breeders’ Cup contenders out and about today, so without further ado, here are some of my thoughts and photos of the World Championships runners. Since there are so many horses, I’ll separate all of the photos into races by chronological order. Ready? Let’s do this! 
BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE TURF – FRIDAY, OCT. 31, 6TH RACE
The first horse I saw this morning was Juvenile Turf contender Commemorative. He must have been especially eager to welcome me to the track for the day, since he shot me a huge smile as he made his way down the lane:

He’s a lovely looking horse, and as he walked down the track he was playing and throwing his head around a little bit. I can’t fault him for that, though – he’s still very young and he was likely just excited to be out for a bit of exercise.

Conquest Typhoon is one great-looking horse, and I like his résumé coming into this race. He drew my attention even when older, more mature horses surrounded him, and I always like that in a 2-year-old. He goes into my bets on Friday.

Wet Sail is a very perky little horse, and while I don’t know a lot about him (he hails from Great Britain; and after all, we are America’s Best Racing and not Earth’s Best Racing … yet) he seemed very comfortable jogging on the Santa Anita turf course despite the slew of photographers gathered at the entrance to the lawn.

BREEDERS’ CUP DIRT MILE – FRIDAY, OCT. 31, 7TH RACE
Goldie! Goldencents won last year’s edition of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and I have every confidence that he can do it again this year. He looks fantastic, and his race record leading up to the event tells me that he’s ready for Friday’s Dirt Mile.

Big Bane Theory is a well-named horse: he is indeed quite large. He definitely will have to put in the race of his life to win beat Goldencents, but he’s a striking animal and went around the track very calmly amidst a crowd of Breeders’ Cup contenders.

BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF– FRIDAY, OCT. 31, 8TH RACE
The only Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner I saw today was Osaila; she was very focused and professional in her gallop during a busy time of the morning, so I’ll be interested to see how she goes if she gallops on the grass course later on this week.

BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF– FRIDAY, OCT. 31, 9TH RACE
I was lucky enough to get photos of three nice Distaff contenders this morning! Don’t Tell Sophia is a bit of an obsession of mine since she won the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland earlier this month; not only was she very impressive in her victory, but she also sports some seriously awesome ears:

Please note that Spinster winner Don't Tell Sophia has beautiful long ears and one has a spot on it! pic.twitter.com/q3TsGlYsZr
— Penelope P. Miller (@PenelopePMiller) October 5, 2014

She looked great this morning at Santa Anita Park, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see her finish in the top three in the Distaff.

Belle Gallantey is one of those horses that gets overlooked too often despite her myriad achievements on the racetrack this year. I liked the way she galloped this morning, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her in the next few days leading up to the Distaff.

Iotapa is a California star, and she’s never finished worse than third running at Santa Anita Park. She was calm and collected this morning as she waited to go onto the racetrack, and happily accepted lots of love and affection from both her rider and the rider on her escort pony horse. It was a nice moment to witness.

She also seems to love the camera, since she was striking poses for the photographers clustered at the entrance to the racetrack.

BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 4TH RACE 
The only Juvenile Fillies contender I caught a photo of this morning was Danette. I’m not confident she’s up to the task in this race – she has yet to make it to the winner’s circle – but she’s a beautiful mover who has an extended trot that makes her look like a high-level show horse. 

BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 5TH RACE
I scored big-time this morning when it came to Filly and Mare Turf runners: I got to see two of the horses I was most excited for – last year’s winner Dank and Just the Judge. Dank looks just fantastic; I’m a huge fan of hers, so that may color my opinion a bit, but I truly think that this is her race to win again this year. I can’t wait to see her run on Saturday. I was also impressed by her gallop this morning – to see a photo of it, you can scroll down to the Breeders’ Cup Turf section since I got her and Telescope in the same frame. 

Just the Judge looks fantastic as well; I think this is a race where the Europeans sweep the top three spots, and I see no reason that Just the Judge won’t be up there. She took to the Santa Anita turf course like the proverbial duck to water, and I loved the way she moved on the lawn. 

 
BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY AND MARE SPRINT– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 6TH RACE
The only Filly and Mare Sprint entrant I saw today knocked my socks off: Artemis Agrotera. She looks tremendous, to the point that people were remarking on it this morning, and her gallop was very strong. She gets my money right now.

BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 8TH RACE
Private Prospect is up against a lot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile; while he looked very good this morning, I’m just not sure that he’s ready to face all of the very talented 2-year-olds lined up for this race. 

I’ll take a moment to say how sad I am that favorite American Pharoah was scratched from the Juvenile this morning. He wasn’t 100%, so his trainer, Bob Baffert, decided that racing on Saturday wasn’t in the horse’s best interest. The good news is that it sounds like the injury is very minor – a foot bruise – and he’ll be back in fighting form very soon. While it’s too bad that we won’t be able to see him run, I am so glad that his human connections are doing right by him, and I can’t wait to see how American Pharoah does on the 2015 Triple Crown trail. 
BREEDERS’ CUP TURF – SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 9TH RACE
I saw some lovely turf runners this morning; one of my favorite contenders is Main Sequence, who’s had just an outstanding year in 2014. He definitely has some very stiff competition from the European contingent in this race, but he looks fantastic and I think he has a shot to do Americans proud on Saturday. I loved the way he galloped this morning and I hope to see him in the winning blanket of flowers after the Turf.

Telescope is a major threat in this race; he has a very strong racing résumé and he’s definitely one of the buzz horses coming into the Turf. He looked wonderful and very comfortable on the Santa Anita lawn, and I think he may be the horse to beat on Saturday.

Here’s the aforementioned photo of Telescope and Dank – a lot of talent in one frame!
 
BREEDERS’ CUP SPRINT– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 10TH RACE
The only new Sprint contender I saw today was Wind Fire, another European runner. He seemed pretty freaked out by the action at Clocker’s Corner, bouncing around the track and staring at the crowd gathered to watch the workouts. Hopefully, he’ll settle down in the coming days.

BREEDERS’ CUP MILE– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 11TH RACE
Lots of Milers were out this morning! Sayaad is a horse that I think will have to put in a career-best effort to win on Saturday; he’s yet to score in a major graded stakes and he’s up against some stiff competition here.

Tom's Tribute has had a banner year, winning some of California’s premier races with his victories in both the Eddie Read Stakes and the Del Mar Mile this summer. I think you would be wise to include him in your trifecta (picking the first three finishers) and superfecta (picking the top four finishers) if you’re playing them.
 
I’m a big Trade Storm fan – he was gallant in his Woodbine Mile victory, and how can you not love a racehorse who’s this cool:

Ella having a sit on Trade Storm earlier in the summer,he's definitely a family favourite now!! pic.twitter.com/gQnvtrple5
— JamieSpencer (@JPSPENCER1980) September 15, 2014

He looks incredibly fit and I could see him easily finishing in the top three here on Saturday.

French invader Veda is a bit of a question mark in my mind; I just don’t know enough about her race record to make an informed decision about her, but she was eager in her gallop this morning, and I’m making a note to keep my eye on her for the rest of the week. 

BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC– SATURDAY, NOV. 1, 12TH RACE
I love seeing the Classic horses in the morning! There’s something about those gold saddle towels that makes my heart race every time I spy one.
Bayern looks good – really good. If he can get an easy lead he may steal this race. I’m so impressed by the strength of the 3-year-olds this year; I would put money on one of them winning the Classic. 

Cigar Street is definitely a sentimental favorite: his dam (horse-lover parlance for mother) is a half-sister to Hall of Fame legend Cigar, who passed away earlier this fall. While he has a tough task ahead of him to get to the Classic winner’s circle, it’s important to note that he hasn’t finished worse than second since April 2012, and he very well may be sitting on a huge race.

Toast of New York made headlines when he won the United Emirates Derby this spring; and while he hasn’t repeated that kind of victory since, he did finish second to Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite Shared Belief  in the Pacific Classic in August. He hasn’t had a race since then, so there is a fitness question going into the Classic.

ODDS AND ENDS:
Two things here: I would like to personally thank the kind-hearted souls at Lane’s End Farm who provide us with free coffee at Clocker’s Corner every morning. You people are doing God’s work. 

Also, how ridiculous is it that this is the view from my “office” this week?

If you hear me complaining at any point through Sunday, just remind me of this photo and I will shut my pie hole post-haste.
CLOCKER’S CORNER POOCH OF THE DAY:
This is Axel:

He is very young and has the most soulful eyes of any pup I’ve ever seen. If I’d had any breakfast meats about my person at the moment I met him I would have surrendered them immediately. 
That’s it for today! Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll be back tomorrow with even more Breeders’ Cup World Championships runners.