Breeders’ Cup meeting 2017: day one – live!

Mor Spirit’s main rivals in the betting are Azteca Spirit, seen here winning the Kelso Handicap, and Accelerate, a Grade Two winner here earlier in the year:

A little over 10 minutes to post time for the next race on the card, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. This is not a race that has ever had any appeal to the Europeans, and is a bit of an afterthought for the Americans too, since it features horses that are not fast enough for the Sprint, or classy enough for the Classic.

It has very warm favourite in Mor Spirit, who is a bit of a case in point as he was 10th in last year’s Kentucky Derby but has been notching up Grade Ones since dropping back in trip.

Here he is winning the Met Mile at Belmont Park:

Here’s the full finishing order in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf:

September, meanwhile, has now finished fast to make the frame in a Group One in her last two outings, and she could now be nudging a little closer to Happily in the betting for next summer’s Oaks. Ryan Moore’s filly was virtually pulled up before crossing the line in last place.

That was a disappointing start for the Europeans but Rushing Fall does look like a top-class turf two-year-old and is now unbeaten in three starts.

The home team strike first at the Breeders’ Cup, and that was a fine ride by Javier Castellano from stall 11 aboard Rushing Fall.

Happily and September both missed the kick – September fell out of the stalls – and were third-last and last respectively going into the back stretch.

Happily never threatened to get involved in the finish, but September put up a huge run to charge through the field rounding the home turn and then make ground all the way up the straight. Rushing Fall, though, had been perfectly positioned to strike for home at the top of the stretch, and September and Seamie Heffernan were never quite going to reel them in.

The distances were 3/4 length and a length.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf result: 1. Rushing Fall, 2. Best Performance, 3. September.

Approaching the gates for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, Breeders’ Cup 2017 about to get underway….

Other European challengers in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf are Now You’re Talking (Joseph O’Brien up against his dad), Madeline (Roger Varian) and Juliet Capulet (John Gosden/Frankie Dettori).

Unfortunately I’m struggling to find a video of September just losing out to Laurens in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket, but I reckon she would have won with just a little more luck in running.

Happily is currently showing at 2-1 on the local PMU, with Rushing Fall and September both on 7-2.

Happily lined up for the colts’ race on Arc day at Chantilly, the Prix Jean Luc Lagardere:

Twenty minutes to post time for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, here’s some video form for the leading contenders, starting with Rushing Fall’s win in the Jessamine Stakes at Belmont Park.

Good evening from Del Mar racetrack near San Diego (or “the Surfside Race Place as a banner on the main entrance has it), the splendid venue for this year’s Breeders’ Cup. It might not have the mountainous backdrop of Santa Anita in Los Angeles, but the Pacific Ocean is a few hundred yards away, hence Del Mar’s other nickname as “the place where the surf meets the turf”, and the train ride up from San Diego is one of the most memorable raceday rattlers anywhere on earth, as the last few miles are right alongside the beach.

The first four of the 13 Grade One events are on this evening’s opening-day card, and Europe has a strong challenge for both of the turf events for two-year-olds. It will be a real disappointment, in fact, if one of the visitors does not pick up the Juvenile Turf, which looks there for the taking assuming that our runners can handle the extremely tight turns on a full circuit of the course. Aidan O’Brien will be going for his 27^th top-level success of the season with Mendelssohn, the runner-up to U S Navy Flag in the Dewhurst last time out – or possibly his 28^th, depending on how September and Happily get on in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf earlier on.

My fancy for the Juvenile Turf is George Scott’s James Garfield, though I would not be nearly as confident about his chance as one of the TV tipsters here at the track is about Rushing Fall, the biggest locally-trained threat to our two-year-old fillies in the first Breeders’ Cup race of the day. He suggested that backers should consider a perm for the Pick6 bet which amounted to a total outlay of no less than $1200 for 600 lines – with Rushing Fall his only pick in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf. Brave man.

The big race of the day for the local punters is the Distaff, with eight fillies and mares going to post and five priced up at single-figure odds. Stellar Wind is the early favourite, but she was behind Forever Unbridled in this race last year when the pair finished third and fourth behind Beholder and Songbird, and Dallas Stewart’s mare looks a better bet at the prices.

Here’s wishing everyone a thrilling, and hopefully profitable, two days at the track.

Greg Wood will be along shortly. In the meantime, here is the day’s Talking Horses blog looking ahead to the Breeders’ Cup: