2013 Breeders’ Cup Friday Betting Preview Part 6

The market leader is Vorda, who trades at a bottom price of 9/2 - which makes this one of the most open races of the entire two day event. A Group 1 winner at Newmarket after triumphing in the Cheveley Park Stakes, she is also placed in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville. A seemingly top-class two-year-old filly she doesn’t come from especially high-end stock but really looks to have a winning attitude. 

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She has gone off as the betting choice in every race she’s run in aside from her maiden (which she won at 14/1). It’s worth noting that she deployed a tracking trip to win that last race whereas previously she had run on late after being restrained early on. It’s likely why she couldn’t make up the necessary ground in her sole career loss. If she ships to California and wins this race, she will truly be the best filly of her generation on the planet. 

Another one of the Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani’s fillies is the second choice in this race and Al Thakira enters off a solid Group 2 showing at Newmarket in the Rockfel Stakes. She won that race and her maiden contest and lines up for Marco Botti’s yard. Many expect her to put in a real serious shift here and her 11/2 price tag could look to be a bargain on the day. She may be ignored by many American punters, however, and that could lead to a higher price on the US Tote. 

The local contender to watch here is the talented Clenor, who is an Irish-bred but is owned by American connections. She comes out of the Doug O’Neill barn and has forged a great partnership with Rafael Bejarano. The pair have rattled off four scores in a row in Southern California and that includes a pair of overnight stakes victories at one mile on the turf. She beat out the best that Southern California had to offer in the Surfer Girl Stakes and closed gamely coming four-wide into the lane. 

She also boasts a pedigree that screams 1m turf by Oratorio (by Danehill) out of a Royal Academy mare. Look for her at a solid 14/1 ante post price that will be lower on the day. 

The final race of the Breeders’ Cup Friday is the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff - formerly known as the Ladies Classic. While it is the shortest field of the entire two-day event it is probably one of the most anticipated and may have more bearing on horse of the year than the Breeders’ Cup Classic does and that sort of thing doesn’t happen very often.