Saturday Breeders’ Cup Selections

By Rick Francis —-

SATURDAY

SANTA ANITA

Race 3) 1 Mile. Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Grade I. Purse $1,000,000 FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 2:30/ 1:30/12:30/(11:30)

3) Cody’s Wish (Mott/Alvarado); a perfect 7-for-7 at the distance. Rebounded sharply to take the Vosburgh; his race to lose.
4) Zozos (Cox/Geroux); versatile son of Munningsexits a gate-to-wirewin in the Ack Ack; 3-for-3at the route; bullet works in prep for this.
9) National Treasure (Baffert/Prat); don’t discount Baffert or the Preakness winner in this spot.
8) Shirl’s Bee (Stewart/Saez); laightly race 3-year-old has a punchers chance for a conditioner that’s thrown a punch or two before.

Selections: 3, 4, 9, 8

Race 4) 1&1/4 Mile. (Hillside Turf) Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf Grade I. Purse $2,000,000 DOWNHILL TURF FOR FILLIES AND MARES, THREE-YEARS-OLD AND UPWARD
Post Time: 3:10/ 2:10/ 1:10/(12:10)

4) In Italian (Brown/Roasario); last years runner-up. Mare out of Dubawiwill once againtry and steal this on the front end; CAUTION – she’s been caught late in each of her last two.
2) Warm Heart (O’Brien/Moore); enters having won a pair of Group 1’s at York and Longchamp; makes on her ninth career start as the best is yet to come with this filly.
6) Inspiral (Gosden/Dettori); all this filly by Frankel knows is G1 competition. Enters on back-to-back wins over typical Euro surfaces, soft, heavy etc, so she should relish the So Cal turf. 4-year-old is going to give this field all it can handle.
9) Didia (Correas/Cheminaud); exits the Rodeo Drwin in clearing fashion. Argentine-bred owns 5 wins and a second from her six North American starts; you may get some value here.
10) McKulick (Brown/Ortiz, I. Jr.); in a depp field as such as this you can never ignore a graded stakes winner of top stallion Frankel; only problem, where to put her?

Selections: 4, 2, 6, 9, 10

Race 5) 7 Furlongs. PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Grade I. Purse $1,000,000 FOR FILLIES AND MARES, THREE-YEARS-OLD AND UPWARD.
Post Time: 3:50/ 2:50/ 1:50/(12:50)

1) Goodnight Olive (Brown/Ortiz, I. Jr.); throw out the Derby City Distaff as she was boxed in, and in her last the Ballerina, though second, she was as game as it gets; rebounds here as she always does.
3) Eda (Baffert/Hernandez); her late kick was absent in her last start here when she faded to third. Munnings filly has 4-of-5 SA starts, ignore at your own risk.
9) Yuugiri (Brisset/Santana); winner of two straight, 3-of-4; has enough to be part of exotics.
4) Matareya (Cox/Prat); was the benefactor of Goodnight Olive’s troubled trip at Churchill on Derby Day, but has disappointed in each of her last; that disappointment continues here.

Selections: 1, 3, 9, 4

Race 6) 1 Mile. (Turf) FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile presented by PDJF Grade I. Purse $2,000,000 FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 4:30/ 3:30/ 2:30/( 1:30)

14) Master of the Seas (Appleby/Buick); Irish-bred gelding’s two North American starts were a winng effort in the G1 Woodbine Mile and just missed by a nose last out in the Grade 1 Turf Mile at Keeneland. Trainer/jock tandemhit at 36 percent with a $2.50 ROI
6) Mawj (Bin Suroor/Murphy); a winner of 6-of-9 caeer starts, including a perfect 4-for-4 this year. Filly is on a roll and be the one they’ll have to catch.
10) Songline (Hayashi/Tosaki); mare is the $6 million dollar lady; 5-of-9 at the mile along with a second and third; she is on a roll.
12 Exulted (Eurton/Hernandez); 4-for-4 over the course, all at this distance; big time class test for this 6-year-old by Twirling Candy.

Selections: 14, 6, 10, 12

Race 7) 1&1/8th Mile. Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff Grade I. Purse $2,000,000 FOR FILLIES AND MARES, THREE-YEARS-OLD AND UPWARD
Post Time: 5:10/ 4:10/ 3:10/( 2:10)

4) Idiomatic (Cox/Geroux); Curlin filly has been rock solid, never off the board in eleven starts and has won 7-of-8 attempts this year; if shipping cross-country has taken something out of her that would be the only way she folds.
3) Pretty Mischievous (Walsh/Gaffalione); out of Into Mischief, this filly also rolls in tested. Throw out her place effort last out in Cotillion as track was off, such will not be the case here. This contest has all the making of “CLASSIC”.
5) Adare Manor (Baffert/Hernandez); comes in hot winning last four and has a 9 6-3-0 Santa Anita record; daughter of Uncle Mo will be part of the early pace.
9) Clairere (Asmussen/Rosario); missed by a head in last years contest, which followed an “off” effort in the Personal Ensign, that scenerio can repeat itself as she runs today from an equally “off” try in this years Personal Ensign; she’s rested and is going to give it her all>

Selections: 4, 3, 5, 9

Post Time: 5:50/ 4:50/ 3:50/( 2:50)

9) Mustahdaf (Gosden/Crowley); 5-year-old by Frankelhas won 10-of16 including two straight; be cautious however, those last came against very short field’s for this caliber; he’s as real as it gets, but so is this bunch.
5) Auguste Rodin (O’Brien/Moore); Deep Impact colt is also a major player on the world Group 1 level and just as the aforementioned he hasn’t faced large fields on a regular basis.
11) King of Steel (Varian/Dettori); missing by a length two back, colt is rounding into form as he took G1 at Ascot with a last to first effort; not surpisingly, he hasn’t faced this quality of depth on a regular basis.
13) War Like Goddess (Mott/Alvarado); English Channel mare has showed in each of the two editions and comes in off a pair of strong showings, missing by a neck two back and winning the Grade 1 Turf Classic last month at the Big A; she’s America;s best chance.

Selections: 9. 5, 11, 13

Race 9) 1&1/4 Mile. Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Grade I. Purse $6,000,000 FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 6:40/ 5:40/ 4:40/( 3:40)

12) Arabian Knight (Baffert/Prat); son of Uncle Mo gets his true test today. Winner of the Grade 1 Awesome Again last out was his 3rd of four career starts. Race scenerio for this, as with most Baffert starters, go to the front and hang on, I think he can.
8) Ushba Tusoro (Takagi/Kawada); 6-year-old is a perfect 6-for-6 at the “classic” distance, one of which was his visually impressive last to first win in the Dubai World Cup, which obviously padded that $9.5 million bankroll. He’ll get the desired set up to duplicate that effort.
6) Saudi Crown (Cox/Geroux); a couple of nose seconds are this Always Dreaming colt’s blemishes of his record; his sire knew how to win at this route and he’ll be part of a very crowded early pce.
3) White Abarrio (Dutrow/Ortiz, I. Jr.); it’s put up time for this 2-time Grade 1 winner, morning line has to move north for me.

Selections: 12, 8, 6, 3

Race 10) 5 Furlongs. (Turf) Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Grade I. Purse $1,000,000 FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 7:25/ 6:25/ 5:25/( 4:25)

7) Nobals (Rivelli/Corrales); gelding will need every bit of an opening quarter of .21 to best these; bullet work in prep for this suggests he will.
12) Arzak (Trombetta/Saez); 5-year-old starting to figure it out as he’s won back-to-backs highlighted by his G2 Woodford win last out.
9) Roses for Debra (Clement/Ortiz, I. Jr.);a yielding urf probably cost this one in last; prior four starts all clearing scores.
5) Live In The Dream (West/Kirrane); Irish-bred learned a lot from his Woodford defeat in last when he fired a blistering opening quarter and it cost him at the line.

Selections: 7, 12, 9, 5

Race 11) 6 Furlongs. Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint Grade I. Purse $2,000,000 FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 8:00/ 7:00/ 6:00/( 5:00)

8) Elite Power (Mott/Ortiz, I. Jr.); extra furlong in Forego not his liking; returning champ gets back to his route.
6) The Chosen Vron (Kruljac/Berrios); after winning seven straight Cal-bred company, Vronsky 5-year-old got his signature win by taking the Grade 1 Bing Crosby last out.
7) Speed Boat Beach (Baffert/Smith); caught late in last after a game effort.
9) Gunite (Asmussen/Gaffalione); has demonstrated a pattern of following up a loss with a win.

Selections: 8, 6, 7, 9