Breeders’ Cup 2017: day two – live!

35-1 about Nezwaah now, my 10 bucks must have moved the market.

Lady Eli is the 7-5 favourite on the PMU, while Rhododendron is 7-1. My fancy Nezwaah is no less than 40-1 on the machine here, which seems like a daft price for a Group One winner who loves fast ground.

The European challenge for the Filly & Mare Turf includes Rhododendron, for Aidan O’Brien, Roger Varian’s Nezwaah and last year’s winner, Queen’s Trust. The one all have to beat, though, is Lady Eli, edged out of it on the line last year and likely to appreciate the drop back to nine furlongs this time around. Here she is winning the Grade One Diana Stakes this year:

And the Filly & Mare Sprint, which has left the backers on the floor after winners at 15-1, 31-1 and now 66-1. At this rate, they won’t have anything left to bet with by the time the Classic rolls around.

Here’s the closing stages of the Turf Sprint via the Del Mar Twitter feed:

More quotes from the Turf Sprint, where Marsha finished sixth in her final race and Lady Aurelia beat only two home. This is Wesley Ward, Lady Aurelia’s trainer:

He [John Velazquez] said he got a good trip, eased her out ready for her punch and it just wasn’t there today. Probably the long year kinda caught up to us. She’s such a great horse, she was doing everything we liked to see in the morning but when you gotta dig down deep in your soul, you need that freshness

Another complete shocker of a result here, as Bar Of Gold takes the Filly & Mare Sprint at 66-1.

2. Ami’s Mesa, 3. Carina Mia

The Filly & Mare Sprint on the dirt track is the next event here, coming up in about three minutes’ time. Unique Bella is another strong favourite at even money, and the punters could badly do with a trip to the payout windows.

Luke Morris on Marsha’s run in the Turf Sprint:

They went very hard from the gate, which was always on the cards, really. I got onto the tail of Lady Aurelia about half way around and that was my plan all along, but she just struggled slightly on the track. Her best form is on straight tracks and that’s always where you’ll see her at her best, but she’s run a good, honest race.

Marsha managed to beat Lady Aurelia – but still finished in mid-division as both fillies failed to fire. Stormy Liberal – another big outsider at 31-1 – got up in a close finish to edge out his stable companion Richard’s Boy.

2. Richard’s Boy, 3. Disco Partner

Marsha is thoroughly relaxed and taking it all in her stride as they head across to the stalls for the Turf Sprint. A win for her here would be one of the all-time great achievements for a British-trained runner in the States.

Lady Aurelia is the first odds-on chance of this year’s Breeders’ Cup at the moment, showing at 3-5 on the PMU. Marsha is a 6-1 chance, while Mongolian Saturday, whose win at Keeneland two years ago led to some memorable scenes, is a 40-1 outsider this time around.

Mike Smith was wearing a camera aboard Caledonia Road, here’s the first-hand (or helmet) view of his winning ride in the Juvenile Fillies’.

Here’s the obvious piece of video form for this race, complete with Frankie Dettori’s celebration of his … err… narrow defeat.

It is 20 minutes to post time for the Turf Sprint, and Marsha versus Lady Aurelia part two in what could yet prove to be, from a British perspective at least, the race of the meeting. And while I’m still highly dubious about whether Marsha will have enough time to close Lady Aurelia down on this short home straight, it should be pointed out that, in the supporting turf race before the Juvenile Fillies’, Ryan Moore managed do go from last to first in the straight and win a tad cosily on Aidan O’Brien’s Declarationofpeace.

The owner of Caledonia Road was just asked on the winner’s podium why his horse is called Caledonia Road. “It is,” he said, “because I live on Caledonia Road.”

The winner was a 17-1 outsider, and the “big three” in the betting all finished out of the frame.

Yet another Breeders’ Cup winner for Mike Smith as he brings Caledonia Road with a strong run down the stretch to catch Alluring Star a few strides from the line. The runner-up set a fair pace along with Moonshine Memories, but the favourite was beaten off before the home turn. Alluring Star had a healthy advantage at the top of the stretch but it was not enough to keep Caledonia Road at bay.

1. Caledonia Road, 2. Alluring Star, 3. Blonde Bomber.

Heading for the gates for the Juvenile Fillies’, Moonshine Memories a solid favourite now at 2-1.

But enough of the frippery, the serious business of the Breeders’ Cup main card is about to begin. It’s 10 minutes to post for the Juvenile Fillies, for which Moonshine Memories is currently favourite ahead of Heavenly Love and Separationofpowers. Here’s some vids of those three in action:

Del Mar also staged a famous match race between Seabiscuit and Ligaroti in 1938, which was the first horse race to be broadcast on national radio in the US (Seabiscuit won by a nose). And more recently, it has staged two more matches: a Battle of the Sexes between jockeys Pat Valenzuela and Julie Krone, and a Battle of the Exes between Mike Smith and Chantal Sutherland.

A bit of Del Mar history now. Bing Crosby was one of the track’s founder-members, and its first President. He was also at the gate to greet racegoers in person when it opened in July 1937, and one of his horses, and his horse High Strike won the track’s very first race, which does not seem to have raised any eyebrows at all in those more innocent times.

One for historians:

There’s 40 minutes yet before the first of the Breeders’ Cup races gets underway – the Juvenile Fillies’ at 7pm GMT, so here’s the view from the press room balcony to set the scene a little:

The statement from Scott Palmer also addressed the possibility of “prior concerns” over Ulysses’s wellbeing before his scratching was announced yesterday night local time.

I’m not aware of any prior concerns, but it would not surprise me. Especially in a big event like this, they want to give the horse the best opportunity to be okay and the connections a completely fair shake. We’re talking about a very important race, here.

First thing to report from here is a statement on the scratching of Ulysses from the Turf, from Dr Scott Palmer, the On-Call Veterinarian:

The decision to scratch Ulysses was made by the connections, of course, with the advice of Dr Wayne McIlwraith. The concern was that Ulysses has a small amount of inflammation in his left front fetlock. I don’t think it’s a life-threatening issue whatsoever, it’s just a bit of a concern and they wish to do the right thing by the horse and protect him.

Good morning from Del Mar in southern California, where the main card of the 2017 Breeders’ Cup will play out over the course of the next six hour or so. Europe’s biggest ever team of horses for a Breeders’ Cup picked up a win with Aidan O’Brien’s Mendelssohn in the Juvenile Turf yesterday, but there are four more events on the turf track today where the visitors have a major chance, as well as two big names running on the dirt as U S Navy Flag and Churchill line up for the Juvenile and the Classic respectively.

There was a big setback to the challenge overnight, however, as Ulysses, the narrow second-favourite for the Turf, was ruled out of the race when he was found to have heat in a fetlock. “We are all very sorry, especially for the fans,” Alan Cooper, racing manager for the Niarchos family, which owns Ulysses, said last night, “but it was in the best interest of the horse.”

In the absence of Ulysses, Highland Reel will now be a clear favourite to win the Turf for the second year running, while the other obvious highlight from a European point of view will be Marsha’s rematch with Lady Aurelia, the horse she edged out by a nose in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August. Frankie Dettori famously punched the air in triumph that day only to find that Luke Morris had done him on the nod, but it promises to be much more difficult for Marsha to run down Lady Aurelia on this tight track where jockeys have a very limited home stretch to deal with.

Dettori, who had been booked to ride Ulysses, has been replaced by John Velazquez aboard Lady Aurelia today, and his best chance of a winner at this year’s Breeders’ Cup now looks to be Queens Trust, last year’s winner, in the Filly & Mare Turf. Dettori has a dozen winners at this meeting to his name so far, while William Buick has yet to get off the mark but he has a great chance to break his duck when he rides Ribchester in the Mile.

I’ve gone for a big outsider in that one, and selections for all nine Breeders’ Cup races are here (though the usual warnings about the value of investments going down as well as up do of course apply). The sun is out, Del Mar is looking splendid and you could probably hear the breakers on the Pacific shoreline a few hundred yards away were it not for the buzz from a sell-out crowd.

It’s time to sound the bugle and get the main card at this year’s Breeders’ Cup underway.

Here’s wishing everyone a thrilling and rewarding evening, hopefully with a few winners for the Europeans along the way.

Greg will be here shortly. Until then, catch up with all the day one action – as it happened: