Zen poised to put up a Classic show
Only three fillies or mares have tested their mettle in the 10-furlong contest and each has endured abject failure.
None of those squared up to their male rivals for the first time with 13 straight victories to their name though, and Zenyatta is carrying the support of America on her ample shoulders.
John Shirreffs’ five-year-old employed her usual hold-up tactics to swoop late off the bend last year in the Ladies’ Classic and she has collected on all four of her outings on the Pro-Ride surface.
She faces some tough opponents, including Aidan O’Brien’s Rip Van Winkle, but looked a picture when stretching her legs on the track on Thursday morning and can chalk up win number 14 in the shadow of the San Gabriel mountains.
Bob Baffert is talking as though Zensational has the Sprint already won, but the super-fast three-year-old can be picked off late on by Godolphin’s Gayego.
The colt has been a different proposition since being transferred to Saeed bin Suroor this year and his Grade One win over the course-and-distance last month will have left him cherry ripe.
Sir Michael Stoute’s Conduit blitzed his rivals with a killer burst of speed in the Turf last year and can repeat the dose under champion jockey Ryan Moore.
The chestnut has been gleaming under the early-morning sun this week and his turn of foot should prove too much for stablemate Spanish Moon and fellow British raider Dar Ri Me.
Goldikova has been on the slide since drawing 11 of 11 in the Mile, but Freddie Head’s brilliant filly has more than a touch of class and is another defending champion who is fancied to follow up.
Fellow French filly Six Perfections defied stall 13 to score in this race here in California in 2003 and with Head predicting an improved performance, expect Goldikova to take her Group One-winning haul to seven.
You have to trawl back to 2003 to find Aidan O’Brien’s last Breeders’ Cup winner but team Ballydoyle can return to Ireland buoyed by the successes of Alfred Nobel and Mastercraftsman.
The latter could run below his Royal Ascot-winning form to still wipe the board in an average renewal of Dirt Mile and he stands out after proving his effectiveness on an artificial surface at Dundalk recently.
Alfred Nobel has been favourably compared by O’Brien to his 2001 juvenile winner Johannesburg and the Group One-winning individual appeals as an each-way play against Baffert’s talented Lookin At Lucky.
Frankie Dettori and John Gosden teamed up to strike with Donativum in the Juvenile Turf in 2008 and they can pull off the same feat this time around with Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere runner-up Pounced.
Gosden revealed this week that the Breeders’ Cup has been on the solidly-built two-year-old’s agenda since his maiden win in August and the booking of Dettori on the tight turf track only increases confidence further.
The Turf Sprint is the one race on Breeders’ Cup night without a serious European challenge but the former Karl Burke inmate Lord Shanakill has reportedly been thriving for new trainer Richard Mandella and has solid credentials.
