Breeders' Cup Top Five (Part 3)

Welcome to Part 3 of the BC Top 5. Tonight it will be all about the Dirt and Turf Miles.

Turf Mile


1. Goldikova (IRE) (Anaaba)- Even with her past two losses, she still has it with still pretty good runner up finishes. The Breeders' Cup is also where she truly shines with 3 wins in this race. Her connections do have a star in waiting in her half sister Galikova (FR) (Galieo (IRE)), and this looks to be her final start before her next adventure... motherhood.

2. Strong Suit (Rahy)- Turf sire on top, female family of Personal Ensign on the bottom. This guy was not born in Kentucky, England, New York, France or any other major horse racing country or state that you can think of. He was born in... Arkansas?! Yep this multiple Graded Stakes winner in England hails from the Razorback State. However, he's Arkansas in state foaling only. Won at Royal Ascot last year, he followed that win up with another win at the prestigious race meet. His lone off the board finish he can forgive for, that was because he went against Frankel. The downside is he most likely will need a new jockey (regular jock Richard Hughes is currently boycotting race riding due to suspension of overwhipping). He was third on his lone start going a mile.

3. Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat)- This hasn't been a great year for our 3 time Eclipse Champion. However, a return to the winners circle last time out was very helpful in his chances to finally win a BC race. The question is... will he actually get it done this year? I'm not sure.

4. Turallure (Wando)- After taken awhile to break his maiden last awhile and doing okay in graded stakes races, it looks like he's finally put it together. The Woodbine Mile is a bit of a weird race where the winners have gone on to win a BC race 3 times*, but none of them have been in the Mile (Prized- Turf, Dance Smartly- Distaff, Skip Away- Classic). Still a good showing at Churchill will set him up well for next year.

*: Yes I know there's Ventura, however she was already a BC winner (F/M Sprint) by the time she won the Mile)


5. Frankel (GB) (Galieo (IRE)- I do this with a little bit of hesitancy since he was not expected to come, however this shows that he might. If he does, of course he shoots up to #1 on the rankings. On paper he towers over his field this weekend at Ascot, but there's still a chance he could be upset. If he does indeed come and win, do the Eclipse votes dare to give him 3yo Male honors off one start in North America, no matter what happens in the Classic? (this is purely hypothetical) Lets get past this weekend, before we think too far ahead.

Dirt Mile


1. Jackson Bend (Hear No Evil)- Bless his little heart, he looked like he was going to blow by Uncle Mo in the Kelso, but the juvenile champ had more in the tank. His best distance is seven furlongs which unfortunately puts him at a disadvantage in that he either has to go too short, or too long. With that being said, he's prob. better going too long then too short.

2. Shackleford (Forestry)- A win here would be huge. His lone bad run this year was in the Travers, and he rebounded from that well. He seems to be better at a mile then a mile and a quarter.

3. Jersey Town (Speightstown)- Somewhat of a forgotten horse with how deep this group is, but frankly he could be the best of them all. He just needs the right set up for him to win.

4. Awesome Gem (Awesome Again)- He could be Classic bound, but the fact at his age he still can hit the board in a G1 race is awesome.

5. Wilburn (Bernardini)- Most of his sire's foals have been early bloomers, him and Stay Thirsty (who I will talk about next week) have more taken after him as later bloomers. He upset Shackleford and Caleb's Posse in the Indiana Derby and also won the Smarty Jones. The reason why he's so low is that his first two stakes starts wheren't anything to write home about and he's going to get a class test. This race has taken a bit of a hit with Uncle Mo most likely going to the Classic, and The Factor going to Sprint.

Next week the Top 5 will return with the Juvenile Turf for both sexes on Tuesday.