Saturday’s fifth race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships is the $3,000,000 Turf, for horses three-years-old and up running 1 1/2 miles. Always one of the closest contested races, the Turf always draws a strong field of European runners, and this year is no exception, with two Irish-breds and one UK-bred in the mix, as well as Indy Point from Argentina, who will try and duplicate the feat of Calidoscopio, who became the first South America runner to win a BC event when he took the 2012 Marathon. Indy Point is third choice in the morning line at 9-2.
The first choice at 3-1 is The Fugue, the only filly in the field of 12. She was also at Santa Anita last year, and ran third in the Filly and Mare Turf, in a race where she got boxed in behind tiring runners and had to find a way through late, closing fast to hit the board. She’s been beating males in England, and comes into the Turf with two straight Group I wins to her credit. She’s won five of 12 career starts, and has been in the money in 10 lifetime.
Second choice in the ML at 4-1 is Point of Entry, who on past form could be even money, having won five of six Grade I races, and eight of his last 10 overall. The big concern there is that he’s been off since winning the Woodford Reserve Handicap in early June, and no horse in the history of the Turf has won after being off for more than 55 days. In with a shot at 6-1 is Big Blue Kitten, who had won two-straight Grade Is, before being beaten by a nose last time out in the Joe Hirsch Invitational.
Post time for the 2013 Breeders' Cup Turf is 3:22 PM PDT.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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