HALLANDALE, Fla. – The Breeders’ Cup is without doubt the single best betting card in the American turf calendar, not because it is easy to win but because it offers so much fun, variety and potential – if you’re lucky. Tomorrow’s eight-race extravaganza at Gulfstream Park is no exception. It has the best horses in training inthe world, big fields and good prices. I, for one, am ready, willing, able and armed for combat.
Be forewarned. I don’t mess with favorites because I don’t know of a single bookmaker who went broke laying horses at short prices. I bet longshots, which means I seldom emerge from a day at the track breaking even. I either hit or tap. So here’s the layout for tomorrow:
The first Breeders’ event is the Distaff, which favorites dominate. Silverbulletday, Beautiful Pleasure and Banshee Breeze appear to have it sewn up. No bet.
The second is the Juvenile Fillies, another near throwout. The top choices, Chilukki, Surfside and Darling My Darling, have it locked up.
However, I’ll risk a small investment on Cash Run (with Jerry Bailey from the rail) not because I think she will win but because she comes out of the powerful Lukas stable and when they’re 20-1 or more, they’re worth a spec.
The third race, the Mile on grass, is an opportunity. The 7-2 favorite, Brave Act, has drawn gate 11, a near insurmountable handicap this trip, this course. Out he goes. The Mott-Bailey runner, Garbu, has drawn 14. Throw him out even quicker. Silic, the French-bred winner of the Oak Tree, is listed at 6-1 from gate 12. Not with my money.
I’ll take Docksider, the brilliant European miler, who goes from gate 2 with Gary Stevens. He has great speed out of the gate to get good position and can pounce at the top of the short stretch. A good risk at 12-1.
Jim and Tonic will be heavily bet here, but Docksider whipped him by seven lengths when they met last at Goodwood. Middlesex Drive at 12-1 and Delay of Game at better than 20-1 will also carry some of my money.
The fourth race is the Sprint, every longshot player’s dream. Discard horses in the outside gates, including Affirmed Success, 6-1 with Bailey in 12; Lexicon, 8-1 with Kent Desormeaux in 14; Regal Thunder in 13; Vicar in 10 and Son of a Pistol in 11.
The favorites, Artax and Forestry, are extremely formidable but I’ll take the Californian flying machine Big Jag from gate 3 at 10-1. Enjoy the Moment, a California filly at 30-1, has won five races off the layoff. She comes here off a two-month layoff. She gets a few shekels because layoffs have a good winning record in the Sprint.
Rounding it out is the sleeper of the day, Shug McGaughey’s Furlough, who goes from the rail at 30-1 or better. Next to Lukas, McGaughey has the best training record in the Breeders’ history.
Furlough races well fresh but her Beyer speed figures can’t compare with Artax and Forestry. But that’s why she’ll be big odds. You can’t have everything.
The fifth race is the newcomer, a mile and three-eighths on the grass for fillies and mares. The three hotshots – Soaring Softly, Perfect Sting, Coretta – have all drawn off the track. Bye, bye chalk.
Caffe Latte, a lightly raced three-year-old, is peaking beautifully off a rallying second to Spanish Fern in the Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita. She’s a play at 12-1. Insight (Cash Asmussen) at 20-1 has excellent credentials.
I also will take a flyer with Louve, the only badly drawn horse I will bet all day. She’s in gate 13, but she’s owned by Daniel Wildenstein and trained by Andre Fabre, the shrewd team that sprang Arcangues at 133-1 in the 1993 Classic. These people don’t chase moonbeams.
The next race is the Juvenile, which almost always falls to the favorites. But this year Forest Camp has drawn 10, Dixie Union has drawn 12 and Kiss a Native has 11.
The big winner is Lukas’ High Yield with Bailey at 10-1 from gate 2. I will also bet Bob Baffert’s Captain Steve at double figures and Lukas’ longshot Millencolin with Pat Day on the principle that when top trainers enter two horses always protect yourself with a bet on the longer-priced horses.
The Turf is a tricky race. Daylami, the 7-2 favorite, is the sleekest, most handsome horse on the track. He ran up a sensational record in Europe before failing in the Arc over a bog track at 4-1.
European insiders insist Daylami is over the top, which is hard to believe the way he galloped over the slop here Tuesday. They say Dream Well, from the rail with Asmussen at 10-1, is their best.
I’ll bet First Magnitude, from the Wildenstein-Fabre team, at 15-1, then take exactas of Daylami over Dream Well and First Magnitude.
Lemon Drop Kid was the only horse I wanted for the Classic, but his chances have been severely compromised by drawing gate 11, even allowing that he is a stretch runner. But if the price is right, I’ll still take a shot.
Behrens now looks a stickout after drawing gate 2. I’ll exacta him over longshots Budroyale, Ecton Park, Vision and Verse and Lemon Drop Kid.
As always, I just need one good winner from this list to put me over the top. Here’s hoping. I’m due.
