BREEDERS CUP FRIDAY AT SANTA ANITAA COUPLE OF FUTURE STARS EMERGE IN JUVENILE RACES

FOUR WHEEL DRIVE

Breeders Cup 2019 got off to its usual low key start with five races all featuring juveniles with an eye to future glories. Favorite backer got off to a good start when 6-4 shot FOUR WHEEL DRIVE polished off the opposition with a powerful front running performance to take the Juvenile Turf Sprint over 5 furlongs. Irad Ortiz Jr had the Wesley Ward trainee always in command and he powered home over Chimney Rock in a fast time of 55.66. Several English hacks were excitedly talking the horse up for Royal Ascot next June, but let’s see how the son of American Pharoah out of Funfair handles the long winter break. The horse has now won all three starts by a combined eight lengths as favorite each time. This very promising individual cost $525,000 as a yearling and was bred by the Glenvale Stud.

STRUCTOR

The Juvenile Fillies Turf over one mile was taken by Chad Brown’s STRUCTOR, a rapidly improving colt who is also unbeaten in three starts. Sent off at 5-1, the son of Palace Malice had to overcome some tight traffic issues on the inside before being pulled out to unleash a powerful run. He ended up beating massive long shot Billy Batts by ¾ length in a moderate time considering the conditions. Last time out Structor had won the Pilgrim Stakes, so this was a big step up for the horse who was very well piloted by the other Ortiz brother, Jose. After the race Brown was pretty ebullient claiming that the horse has a bright future ahead of him on the dirt as well as the turf. He cost $850,000 as a yearling for new owners Jeff Brown and Don Rachel.

BRITISH IDIOM

The $2 million Juvenile Fillies was a small but competitive field on paper and the hard fought victory went to the Brad Cox trained BRITISH IDIOM at 5-2 odds. The daughter of the rookie stallion Flashback had the invaluable services of Javier Castellano who powered home in the final furlong to beat the gutsy Donna Veloce by a neck. Here we have yet another unbeaten in three starts horse who was coming off an impressive win in the Alcibades at Keeneland just 13 days ago. Trainer Cox has no qualms in shipping these young fillies across the county to toughen them up and it sure paid off in spades this time around. British Idiom cost the owners $40,000 as a yearling even though Flashback is a son of Tapit standing for $3,500.

SHARING

The Europeans looked like having a real bad day but they did manage to get a second place in the Juvenile Fillies Turf over one mile with the classy Daahyeh. However the Rockfel Stakes winner came up short against the Maryland bred SHARING who went off at 13-1 odds for trainer H. Graham Motion. The son of super sprinter Speightstown was bred at the Sagamore Stud and was coming off a win at Laurel Park in a restricted stakes race. He now has three wins from four starts all under jockey Manny Franco. The winning margin was 1¼ lengths and a patient ride behind the upfront speed paid off for the owners who were Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Farm. She cost them $350.000 and the fee for Speightstown was $80,000 at the time.

STORM THE COURT

Last up on Friday was The Juvenile for the colts, and the talk all week had been about the brilliant Dennis’ Moment who went off at 4/5 odds in the eight horse field. You could hear the groans from the stands as the horse stumbled badly and lost at least eight lengths and never recovered. He ended up last behind 45-1 shot STORM THE COURT under jockey Flavien Prat. The son of Court Vision had won only once in three starts and had even unseated his Jockey in the Del Mar Futurity. He had also lost by 8¼ lengths last time out to Bob Baffert’s Eight Rings who went off as the second choice at 8-5 in the race and who also never fired. However the race ended up being a furious two horse battle in the closing furlong with another long shot Anneau D’Or resulting in a winning margin of a neck. A big win of course for local trainer Peter Eurton, and the horse cost $60,000 as a yearling from the Woodside Ranch. Future plans are uncertain for the horse who was supplemented to the race for $12,000 and who was also wearing blinkers for the first time on the advice of jockey Prat.

Attendance for the day was over 41,000, the weather was 85 degrees and the betting handle was up over 5.4%.