Author: Lindsay Griffin
The Breeders’ Cup races first and foremost settle year-end championships, as the best of the best in every division run against each other for top honors.
However, some of the races- particularly those run on the first day of the series, which is known as “Future Stars Friday- leave racing fans wondering what the horses will go on to do, as opposed to merely ruminating on what they have done. This happens most of all with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Inaugurated in 1984, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile has the honor of being the first Breeders’ Cup race ever run, as it was the opening race on the series’s first day. It is run at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt, save for a few outlying editions where host tracks necessitated changes (the 1985 race, run at Aqueduct, was run at a mile, the 2002 Arlington edition was 1 ⅛ miles, and those run in 2008 and 2009 took place over a synthetic track). It is limited to two-year-old colts and geldings; fillies have their own version.
As mentioned before, no Juvenile is ever run without talk of the future. Although only Street Sense and Nyquist have completed the Juvenile-Derby double, the connections of the Juvenile winner inevitably leave the track smelling a whiff of roses in the air.
Who are some of the favorites for this year’s Juvenile according to Breeders’ Cup live odds by TwinSpires? Let’s take a look.
Cave Rock
Cave Rock most recently won the Grade I American Pharoah Stakes, an important Breeders’ Cup Juvenile prep held at Santa Anita Park. In a race dominated by Bob Baffert trainees (he took the top four finish positions), Cave Rock showed himself to be much the best, winning by 5 ¼ lengths. Cave Rock is now undefeated in three lifetime starts, having previously won the Grade I Del Mar Futurity.
Cave Rock is a son of Arrogate, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Eclipse Champion Three-Year-Old who, most unfortunately, died at the young age of seven. This means that his true ability as a sire will forever be one of racing’s “what ifs.”
Cave Rock’s dam, Georgie’s Angel, was a graded-stakes-winning juvenile, having captured the Grade III Schuylerville Stakes. Her sire is multiple graded stakes winner Bellamy Road.
Forte
Like Cave Rock, Forte is a multiple Grade I winner, adding the Breeders’ Futurity to a previous win in Saratoga’s Hopeful Stakes. His victory over Loggins came after a hard stretch drive in which the two colts ran greenly, bumping each other as they approached the finish line. Florent Geroux, the jockey aboard Loggins, launched an objection against Forte’s jockey, Irad Ortiz, Jr, but the result was allowed to stand.
One key advantage Forte has is that the Breeders’ Futurity is held at Keeneland, the host track for this year’s Breeders’ Cup races. This experience is especially handy when the horses running the race are young and inexperienced.
Forte is by Violence, who was an undefeated graded-stakes-winning two-year-old but who was retired after finishing second in his debut race at age three. His dam, stakes winner Queen Caroline, is by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame, whose biggest claim to fame on the track was being the only horse ever to defeat the great Zenyatta.
Blazing Sevens
Blazing Sevens entered the Grade I Champagne Stakes after a distant loss to Forte in the Hopeful, but the added distance appears to have benefited the colt. A muddy track may also have been to his liking. Regardless, his 3 ¼ length victory stamps him as a horse of quality, and his charge from last to first shows that he is able to overcome traffic problems without throwing in the towel.
Blazing Sevens became the first Grade I winner for freshman sire Good Magic, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2017 and later was runner-up to Justify in the Kentucky Derby. His dam, Trophy Girl, is by grade-I-winning sprinter Warrior’s Reward.
