2009 BREEDERS CUP DIRT MILE ANTEPOST PICKS AND TIPS

With the World Championship's of Horseracing just a few short weeks away, Betting Choice will be offering up an in-depth preview of all the Breeders Cup events. From our perspective, the Europeans are dominating the market on Betfair, and this bodes very well for punters looking to back American horses. One of the most interesting fixtures on November 7th will be the Breeders Cup Dirt mile. It's a bit of a deviation from a lot of the other races at the Festival as the majority will be run on the synthetic surface that Santa Anita is famous for. The shortest odds in the Betfair antepost market are on Mastercraftsman, a 3 year-old Irish runner out of Starlight Dreams by Danehill Dancer. The AP O'Brien-owned colt won the Irish 2000 Guineas and also bested a tough field of 10 in the St James Palace Stakes at Ascot. He's another one of those multiple Group 1 winners who would have had a stellar year had Sea the Stars not set an entirely new standard in flat racing. Mastercraftsman is trading at around 3.7 today on Betfair. My money, however, is going to be on Capt. Candyman Can. This dirt specialist out of Stormy Way by Candy Ride took my breath away during one of the bravest stretch runs I've ever seen. He was running in the Kings Bishop Stakes at Saratoga back in late August and he was bumped and checked all over the place, finishing 2nd but ultimately winning thanks to a disqualification. This horse gave absolutely everything he had and his opponents had to cheat to keep him from winning. My only real question mark over Capt. Candyman Can is his 2nd place finish to Quality Road in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes early in the meet at Saratoga. He also finished 2nd in his last race at Keeneland, putting in a good performance against Fatal Bullet despite the loss. I'm willing to let that one go as it was on polytrack and this is an out-and-out dirt specialist. He is listed at a very enticing 10.0 in the Betfair ante post market. Quality Road is relatively lightly-raced throughout the summer, skipping the Classics, but ultimately was bested twice by Summer Bird- once in the Travers and once in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. I think Quality Road is a place horse, not a win horse, when he runs against Grade 1 competition. I really think he's more suited to Grade 2 or Grade 3 competition and this race could play to his strengths. He's beaten Capt. Candyman Can, barely, and still commands a decent price at 11.0.