A truly championship weekend at Breeders' Cup
Any thought that I'll Have Another could win Horse of the Year if chaos reigned in the Breeders' Cup is long gone after the event lived up to its championships moniker with Eclipse Award-winning performances throughout the two-day, 15-race, $25.5-million extravaganza.
Others probably clinching championships include Fort Larned (older male) and Wise Dan (turf male). That makes the loser in all this Little Mike, who won the Turf Classic, Arlington Million, and Breeders' Cup Turf but doesn't have the cache Wise Dan does.
The Breeders' Cup Classic goes another year without its winner taking home the Horse of the Year trophy (it's been since Curlin in 2007), and the eventual Horse of the Year hasn't even run in the Classic in two of the past four years.
Two-year-old filly will come down between Beholder and Executiveprivilege with Questing likely to win three-year-old filly. Male sprinter and turf female are up for grabs. In the latter category, Tapitsfly has two Grade 1 wins while Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Zagora only has one, but it was the big one. If Tapitsfly wins again this year that would probably shore it up for her, otherwise Zagora will probably get it.
But overall, Breeders' Cup has to be pleased with the international collection of horses it brought together. A South American horse won the Marathon after qualifying via a Win & You're In race, Aidan O'Brien winning the Juvenile Turf, and a good contingent of international journalists covering the event.
2 comments:
Why would Questing rather than MM Aurelia be 3yo filly? MMA won both head-to-head meetings.
Questing WON two Grade 1 races. MMA won another (granted, head to head) but receive a lot of weight from Questing. I rarely give credit for second-place finishes in my championship consideration. It's all about wins.
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