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Weekend Racing Blog - Yee-haw! It's Breeders Cup time


Weekend Racing Blog - Breeders Cup 2020 Tips

The 2020 Breeders’ Cup meeting takes place at Keeneland this Friday and Saturday. There are 14 races in total on grass and dirt.

There are five juvenile contests on the first night and another nine races the following evening. The Breeders’ Cup claims to be the unofficial world championships of thoroughbred racing and Battleground has claims to be the best in class.

Battleground Juvenile Turf Favourite

Battleground was one of the best two-year-olds trained in the UK and Ireland this season. The Aidan O’Brien trained colt is prominent in the betting for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket next spring.

That status will be put to the test in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday (20.10 GMT). Battleground is the current favourite for this race at 9/2 with bet365*.

The Juvenile Turf race was first run in 2007. There have been nine winning horses trained in Europe and four of those came from the O’Brien stable.

Battleground was an impressive winner of juvenile races at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood and can shorten in the betting for the Guineas after winning the Breeders’ Cup race on grass for young horses.

Kameko Fancied In Turf Mile, Authentic For Classic

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile has attracted seven horses based in the UK and Ireland in the entries and most are expected to run.

Post time for the Turf Mile is 20.15 GMT on Saturday night. Kameko is the early favourite at 4/1 with Paddy Power but of course the odds are subject to change before the race.

Kameko won the 2,000 Guineas so is one of the best three-year-old colts over one mile. Three subsequent fourth place finishes at the highest level were disappointing but Kameko was then an impressive winner of a Group 2 at Newmarket in September.

Locals could come for Uni who won the race last year for Chad Brown and Joel Roasrio. However, we are relying on 2,000 Guineas form in suggesting that Kameko is the horse to beat.

We also like Authentic in the Classic on Saturday at 22.18 GMT at 11/2 with bet365*. The Bob Baffert trained three-year-old gets four pounds from the older horses and that could be decisive at the business end of the race.

Authentic won the Kentucky Derby and was second in the Preakness Stakes, giving the winning filly three pounds. The form is the strongest in the race so there is some value in the 6/1 price with Coral.

Goshen Ruled Out of Elite Hurdle At Wincanton

Meanwhile the impressive Goshen was set to embark on a National Hunt season that could end with a Champion Hurdle win at Wincanton on Saturday afternoon but has been ruled due to a bad scope.

“We did scope him and it wasn’t a perfect scope and with the ground being quick enough for him we decided not to run”

The Elite Hurdle at 3pm is a two miles contest for horses aged four and older. Goshen was last seen in a jumps race unseating jockey Jamie Moore at the last obstacle with the Triumph Hurdle in the bag.

The son of the trainer, Gary, was devastated to have the juvenile hurdlers’ championship in his grasp to lose the race that was just about won. However, on reflection he could have thought Goshen was running a huge race and about to record a wide-margin win at Grade 1 level.

Sceau Royal is now the 11/10 favourite with Betway.

And finally…

Horse racing continues on behind closed doors during the four week national lockdown but the sport’s finances are still potentially in a mess.

We should be thankful it’s classed as an elite sport and safe to take place. However, there’s no reason why a limited number of racegoers should not attend in an outdoor environment that is made for social distancing and safety measures to avoid transmission of the virus.

The whole racing business model is under threat and some of the smaller racetracks could close.

* Horse racing odds quoted were correct at the time of article publication