2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Preview Part 1

We're going to be taking an extended look at several of the juvenile races for this year's upcoming Breeders Cup. This year's iteration of all the 2YO contests is distinctly different than past years as the races will not involve horses getting raceday Lasix. Medication changes are part of the overhaul the game is currently having and it has proven to be a controversial decision with a few higher profile horsemen opting not to bring their horses west for this year's two-day extravaganza.

Most of the entrants here only have two or three races under their belts and it's really a matter of who moves forward between now and their last race. Usually, it's all about the over-hyped colt coming into the race and whether they get it or not. Last year, Union Rags was bested by Hansen after a front-running trip that saw Dullahan finish fourth after a bad break and tracking at the back the whole way.

Prior to that, Uncle Mo lived up to expectations and was chased home by Boys At Tosconova, who didn't really wind up fulfilling his early promise.

This year's big story is undefeated Shanghai Bobby, who vanquished one of the game's more hyped-up young runners in Arch Warrior last time out in the Champagne Stakes. He put in a very nice work at Belmont last week and went 4f in 47.2. He continues to move forward from a ratings standpoint and won by five open lengths last time out.

Look for him to take full advantage of the Santa Anita speed bias and get to the front early. His draw in the 8 stall looks pretty good for what he wants to do but he is drawn inside of Speak Logistics, who will also gun to the lead. Speak Logistics is drawn inside of Title Contender – another speed horse who hit a 100 figure breaking his maiden at Santa Anita for Bob Baffert with Martin Garcia up.

Monument is going to be a very interesting option for many and he has a pretty good alternating style and has only lost once – which was his first step up to stakes action, albeit at Fairplex. His first stretch out to two-turns looked real good and he won by nearly three lengths with Garcia in the irons.

While he may not flash quite as much from a figures standpoint, he really does look like a horse that knows how to find the line. Scrappy claimers like this one can do some real damage in California – particularly when better horses are drawn out of their element. He will need the trip, but he could very threatening on the run-in.