Breeders Cup starts this evening

The big Breeders Cup fixture is now a two-day meeting and gets under way at Santa Anita in the late evening (European time). The top races are tomorrow, but tonight´s card is also very strong with 5 Breeders Cup races, 4 of them Group One. The exception is the Marathon at 21.45 CET, which is only a Group Two and widely regarded as the weakest of the series. An Argentinian horse won this last year and Ever Rider (Maria Munoz/ Gary Stevens) could be another winner for that country, as the locals- who rarely run over this 1 3/4 mile distance, do not look that strong. London Bridge (Jo Hughes/ Mike Smith) is the only European runner; the only 3yo in the field; he would not be able to win a Group race in Europe, but we think that he could well be placed in this company.

The Europeans have a good record in the Juvenile Turf over a mile at 22.25. Aidan O´Brien has won this the last twice and now saddles 2 runners with good form: Giovanni Boldini (Ryan Moore) and Wilshire Boulevard (William Buick). Richard Hannon runs Shamson (Richard Hughes), while in our opinion Oustrip (Charlie Appleby/ Mike Smith) is the pick of our team and should be well suited by this track. Bobby´ s Kitten (Chad Brown/ Javier Castellano) looks easily the best of the Americans and could be a tough not for the Europeans to crack. There are no European runners in the Dirt Mile at 23.05 and our knowledge of the U.S. form is not good enough for us to make any reliable prediction, although Verrazano (Todd Pletcher/ John Velesquez) is expected to start a warm favourite.

The Juvenile Fillies Turf follows at 23.50 and here again there is a strong European challenge, headed by Vorda (Philippe Sogorb/ Olivier Peslier), winner last time of thr Cheveley Park at Newmarket. The unbeaten Al Thaquira (Marco Botti/ Ryan Moore) and Chrisseliam (Charlie Hills/ Richard Hughes) are the Britzish runners, while Godolphin´s Sky Painter (Kieran McLaughlin/ Luis Saez) is also dangerous, but badly drawn. Finally the Distaff at 00.35 has only a small field, but is still the best race today, with Royal Delta (Bill Mott/ Mike Smith) attempting to win at the meeting for the third time. However she faces strong opposition from her stable companion Close Hatches (Joel Rosario) and especially Princess of Sylmar (Todd Pletcher/ Javier Castellano), who has the best recent form and beat Royal Delta easily enough at Belmont last time.