Breeders' Cup Ante-Post

Published 24/10

BOTTLE OF ROUGE

NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (22.25, Friday)

In recent years, the Juvenile events on dirt have gone the way of front runners. That could change in the Juvenile Fillies this season as there doesn’t look to be a stand out talent. BOTTLE OF ROUGE wouldn’t be out of place as favourite in this contest, after all she did run down Explora on her most recent start. The clock and speed figures suggest that Explora underperformed that day, and that may be the case, but you can’t fault anything that Bottle Of Rouge has achieved.

Her trip in the Grade 1 Debutante Stakes was far from ideal after being forced five wide round the entirety of the bend. She still had more than enough to run down fellow Baffert trainee Explora who had everything go her way. Her stablemate came back out and easily won a Grade 2 at Santa Anita, but she remains winless here at Del Mar. Bottle Of Rouge on the other hand is unbeaten here in two starts and will appreciate the extra distance.

KOPION

PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (19.00, Saturday)

At this stage, KOPION would be my strongest play of the two days, however, the draw can change plenty of races. This shouldn’t be one of them though as Richard Mandella’s charge is pretty versatile. In an ideal world Kopion would be sat just behind the leaders ready to pounce when the time is right. This wasn’t the case last time when she tackled Grade 1 company and a trip just the other side of a mile. She was ridden far more patiently and sat last of the six which I always find an infuriating thing to do when stepping up in trip, you either stay or you don’t, why not find out? I’ll get off my soap box! Even with tactics against her, she managed to rally willingly for second, and a better game plan would have seen her beat Seismic Beauty, who features prominently in the betting market for the Distaff.  

The negative points are out of the way, let’s focus on the positives. Kopion returns to seven furlongs, a trip she is yet to be beaten over in four Graded starts, including two at the top level in the La Brea and then the Derby City Distaff on Kentucky Derby weekend. This gives her an advantage over her rivals despite being beaten in her last two starts. We have discussed her most recent effort, but she was behind fellow contender Sweet Azteca two starts ago. Visually there weren’t many complaints that day, but Los Alamitos is a funny track and form from that venue should very rarely be trusted. I think we can bank on Kopion returning to her very best form and should expect a huge effort.

BENTORNATO

Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint (20.21, Saturday)

I imagine a few colourful words were muttered by connections 12 months ago, as BENTORNATO found only one too good in this race. This year could bring around a change of fortune and as he has clearly been trained for this race. In fact, we have only seen him once since last year’s Breeders’ Cup. That effort came in a perfect performance as he brushed aside useful company at Churchill Downs with ease. This will obviously demand plenty more but it was an ideal starting point and he showed all of the class we saw on multiple occasions last year.

In last year’s renewal of the Sprint, he duelled with Federal Judge early in the race, something that cost him in the finish. Straight No Chaser was ridden more patiently back in third and managed to pick off the long time leaders inside the final furlong. That doesn’t tell the whole story though, Federal Judge tapped out and finished a very tired fifth, but Bentornato managed to remain competitive. As a three-year-old, that was a monumental effort, he should be much better here with another year behind him. 

JONQUIL

FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (23.05, Saturday)

Let’s round things off with a runner closer to home. Andrew Balding sends JONQUIL over to Del Mar, a horse who is improving with each run. 

He started off this year by winning the Greenham at Newbury, before finding Henri Matisse too strong in the French 2000 Guineas. His season after that became a touch turbulent after not performing over six furlongs in the Commonwealth Cup and after that, running in one of the most bizarre renewals of the Lennox Stakes in recent memory. He returned to Goodwood and a mile on his next start when landing a Group 2 in fine style. 

The next chapter of his season was unexpected as he boarded a flight to America to run in the Coolmore Turf Mile. If you are new to US racing, it can be a very hard thing to take to America immediately, as their style of racing is so different to ours. But Jonquil looked comfortable throughout and managed to stay on from the rear to grab a never nearer fourth. 

He was tasked with a horrible draw that day as he started from stall 12, something that could happen here, but at the time of writing is unknown. One thing is for certain though, America clearly is no problem for him and at a bigger price, Jonquil is definitely one to take seriously.