There is a lot of trash being talked about this year's Breeders' Cup in California, especially the Classic. The hype merchants are already proclaiming the 2009 renewal to be the best this century, possibly ever. All this based on the fact that we have 10 Grade 1 winners in the line-up.
Sorry, but there are Grade 1 winners and then there are Grade 1 winners. This lot are around about par and no better. The US three-year-olds seem an average bunch and the apparent wonder filly Rachel Alexandra is already in winter hibernation. That leaves the freak Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and the Belmont Stakes victor Summer Bird - the latter slammed by the aforementioned filly in the Haskell Invitational - as the chief representatives from the Triple Crown crop. Zenyatta, the unbeaten five-year-old California mare is undoubtedly the star act (she's the one horse that could be the real deal) but she still has something to prove on her first foray into mixed gender company.
To press home my point, America's top turf horse, Gio Ponti, is taking his chance on the Pro-Ride surface in the big one rather than the Breeders' Cup Turf, which would be the more conventional option.
Rip Van Winkle heads the European assault but he was put firmly in his place each time he met Sea The Stars, who has swerved Santa Anita on his way to Gilltown Stud and his new life as a stallion. Rip's two top-flight successes were impressive, and he is obviously a class act, but I question the strength of his opponents in both the QEII and Sussex Stakes. As for Twice Over, I love the horse and hope he can collect, but he is not an extraordinary Group 1 performer.
Sorry, but there are Grade 1 winners and then there are Grade 1 winners. This lot are around about par and no better. The US three-year-olds seem an average bunch and the apparent wonder filly Rachel Alexandra is already in winter hibernation. That leaves the freak Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and the Belmont Stakes victor Summer Bird - the latter slammed by the aforementioned filly in the Haskell Invitational - as the chief representatives from the Triple Crown crop. Zenyatta, the unbeaten five-year-old California mare is undoubtedly the star act (she's the one horse that could be the real deal) but she still has something to prove on her first foray into mixed gender company.
To press home my point, America's top turf horse, Gio Ponti, is taking his chance on the Pro-Ride surface in the big one rather than the Breeders' Cup Turf, which would be the more conventional option.
Rip Van Winkle heads the European assault but he was put firmly in his place each time he met Sea The Stars, who has swerved Santa Anita on his way to Gilltown Stud and his new life as a stallion. Rip's two top-flight successes were impressive, and he is obviously a class act, but I question the strength of his opponents in both the QEII and Sussex Stakes. As for Twice Over, I love the horse and hope he can collect, but he is not an extraordinary Group 1 performer.Last year's Classic, when Raven's Pass held Hennrythenavigator, with the supposedly awesome Curlin back in fourth, surely rates as a better renewal. And don't get me started on other recent contests when horses of the calibre of Ghostzapper and Tiznow prevailed. I mean, really? Could any of this lot match those two? As for the Sunday Silence/Easy Goer Classic of 1989, well, I'm not even going there.
I'll step down from my high horse for a moment.
I'll step down from my high horse for a moment.
All right, so I quite fancy one in tonight's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies'. It's a tricky race to predict and I'm a fool for going public with a selection, but I can't stop looking at Always Princess. Blind Luck is favouite after defeating the selection on the track in the Oak Leaf Stakes last time but I think Bob Baffert's filly can reverse the placings. She was sent to the lead too early on that occasion, a big no-no at Santa Anita, and duly paid for it. She has two
and a half lengths to find with Blind Luck tonight but if connections revert to the hold-up tactics that brought victory on her only other start, then I think she has a big chance.
and a half lengths to find with Blind Luck tonight but if connections revert to the hold-up tactics that brought victory on her only other start, then I think she has a big chance. Lillie Langtry should win what appears to be a weak Juvenile Fillies' Turf and I'm siding with Cocoa Beach in the Ladies' Classic, purely because I think she is value and could be coming back to her old form.
Tomorrow night, Pyro can upset the favourite Mastercraftsman in the Dirt Mile and Beethoven is ridiculously huge odds for the Juvenile. Lord Shanakill is also worth a look for a place in the Turf Sprint.
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