TAKE 2: Royal Delta, last year’s winner of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic and Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont in September, will face a tough field in her bid to repeat. (AP)
ARCADIA, Calif. — The kickoff of the 29th Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita — six races today, nine tomorrow, worth more than $25 million in purses — concludes with a stellar renewal of the $2 million Ladies’ Classic, which drew a star-studded field of eight fillies, including last year’s winner, Royal Delta, and the undefeated champions Awesome Feather and My Miss Aurelia.
“You could argue it’s the deepest race on the two [Breeders’ Cup] cards,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, whose 4-year-old Love and Pride is 8-1 on the morning line despite coming off front-running Grade 1 wins in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga and the Zenyatta over this track.
“It’s the type of race you could run 10 times and get 10 different outcomes,” said My Miss Aurelia’s trainer, Steve Asmussen. “They’re all that good.”
Post time for today’s first Breeders’ Cup race, the Juvenile Sprint (the fourth race at Santa Anita), is 4:06 p.m. eastern. The Ladies’ Classic goes off at 7:30 p.m. The NBC Sports Network on cable will televise all six races from 4-8 p.m. Tomorrow’s coverage on the NBC Sports Network runs from 3:30-8 p.m. Eastern, then shifts to NBC for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (8-9 p.m.), televised for the first time in prime time.
The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies both days, with a high of 75 degrees today and 82 tomorrow.
Love and Pride and the 3-year-old Questing, who dominated the Alabama gate-to-wire by nine lengths, promise to set an honest pace, stalked by Awesome Feather, My Miss Aurelia and Royal Delta, who suffered a superficial cut on her thigh that had to be sutured on the trip from New York to California. Include Me Out, a horse-for-the-course at Santa Anita, looms a late threat at 15-1.
My Miss Aurelia, a towering filly who beat Questing by a head in the Cotillion last out, shipped to Santa Anita several weeks ago and has earned raves from trackside observers. The winner of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile fillies is the pick here to run her record to 7-for-7 under Corey Nakatani in what figures to be a wow finish.
“She’s giving every indication she is up to the task,” Asmussen said. “She’s been right there at every stage, but these are certainly deeper waters than last year.”
In today’s other Breeders’ Cup races:
Super Ninety Nine gets a timid nod in a feeble field for the $500,000 Juvenile Sprint at six furlongs because of trainer Bob Baffert, who won this event last year with Secret Circle. In the wide-open $500,000 Marathon at 1 3/4 miles, which also drew a weak bunch, Worth Repeating has back class and should handle the distance.
The $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf at one mile drew a quality field going a mile. Give a slight edge to Euro-invaders The Gold Cheongsam and Sky Lantern over America’s Watsdachances and Canada’s Sprint Venture.
Dreaming of Julia, a royally bred daughter of A.P. Indy who won a dogfight in the Frizette, should remain undefeated for Pletcher in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies at 1 1/16 miles. Trainer John Gosden’s 3-year-old filly The Fugue, a Group 1 winner in England at this race’s 1 1/4-mile distance, is the day’s best bet in the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf, though the other Europeans — Ridasiyna, Up and Nahrain — are dangerous.