Breeders' Cup Saturday Barn Notes From Santa Anita

An exciting day’s racing unfolded on Friday at Santa Anita Park as the long-shot punters got the best of the action after a series of enthralling contests in the California sunshine. There is still an awful lot to like about Saturday’s card and, if the day pans out anything like the Friday session did, you can expect some very serious results over the 9 race Breeders’ Cup lineup. 

The first race of the day is the BC Juvenile Turf and this one is as up in the air as many of the juvenile races were on Friday. The high price on Gervinho is unlikely to hold as the undefeated winner of the ungraded Zuma Beach lines up to stake his claim as an undefeated Breeders’ Cup winner. He’s taken a substantial amount of money each time he’s come out of the gate and he retains the services of top west coast jock Rafael Bejerano. 

The only Juddmonte entry of the weekend is Dundonnell who finished a tight second to Toronado in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster back in mid-September. Look for him to deploy his usual tracking trip and he should enjoy the stretch out in distance considering the fact that he’s by First Defence out of Danzig mare. Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity winner Joha is also one to watch as Mike Maker tends to hit about 25% with winners from their last races. 

The second Breeders’ Cup race of the day is the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and many will be looking towards Dust and Diamonds, who comes out of Steve Asmussen’s barn. She’s been hitting extremely well in her past few races and this four-year-old daughter of Vindication has looked very good in her recent races. Her lone effort at Santa Anita was a disappointing one however, but it’s tough to ignore words like “driving” “handily” and “ridden out” in her comment section. 

Musical Romance is the other one to keep your eye on here and she’ll be looking to put in her usual 100% effort as they hit the quarter pole. She put in a solid 5f workout over sloppy ground at Calder recently and could move forward here despite moving up in class. 

The Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile is a tricky race to bet but will be a hotly-contested event if things go according to plan. Shackleford has been the darling of the on-track crowd at Clockers’ Corner all week as Dale Romans’ charge looks to put in another solid shift here. He’ll have to dispose of Jersey Town if he wants to get the blanket at the end of the race. Look for Rail Trip to turn things around cutting back to a mile for the first time in over two years. Ron Ellis is a solid trainer in these environs and he’ll likely need a slightly sharper trip than what he had in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes. 

The real quirky one in this race is Tapizar who is a really hot and cold sort of contender. He was beaten by over twenty lengths the last time he tangled with Shackleford but had a very tough trip to endure. He has combined with Corey Nakatani to win at Santa Anita before and this guy has everywhere from Belmont to Mountaineer to Santa Anita and back. It’s tough not to like that 12/1 price tag. 

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is the fourth major contest of the day and this one looks like a real shootout between California Flag, Camp Victory and Mizdirection. California Flag gets the services of Joe Talamo and he’s been running lights out at Santa Anita during this meet - winning a full 22% of his races. He also draws the rail post in a sprint race while his recent 4f work adds plenty of confidence. He’s been all over the globe in the past three or four years but would love to strike lucky in front of an adoring crowd in what amounts to a de facto home game for the gelded son of Avenue Of Flags. 

Bridgetown has shown some versatility in the past, winning races via stalking trip and frontrunning efforts. His last effort, in the Grade 3 Woodford, was a good one. Watch out for California Flag and his ability to move forward at crucial moments.