Breeders' Cup Win and You're In

The Belmont at the Big A Fall Meet will offer 40 added-money events worth nearly $8.8 million, officials from the New York Racing Association announced Saturday. Due to ongoing capital improvements at Belmont Park, the fall meeting will be staged for the second straight season at Aqueduct from Thursday, Sept. 14 through Sunday, Oct. 29, and will feature three Grade I events and a half-dozen 'Win and You're In' qualifiers in a variety of Breeders' Cup divisions. The GIII Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks over 11 furlongs on turf, the final...

ELMONT, NY - Breathe easy. Following significant improvement in air quality conditions throughout New York State, the 155th GI Belmont Stakes--celebrating the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's performance of a lifetime in the final leg of the Triple Crown--will go on as scheduled Saturday evening. If there's one sire's name that you want to see when handicapping the 1 1/2-mile Classic, it's Tapit. Responsible for a co-record four Belmont winners, two second-place finishers and two third-place finishers, the 22-year-old Gainesway kingpin will be represented by potential race favorite Tapit Trice (Tapit)...

Having gone excruciatingly close in the last two renewals of the G1 Yasuda Kinen, Sunday Racing's Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) takes a third crack at Japan's premier spring mile event, a 'Win and You're In' challenge race for the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita in early November. The bay, one of 10 elite-level winner in the field, defeated Songline (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) in the age-restricted G1 NHK Mile Cup over this course and distance two years ago and was narrowly beaten by champion Gran Alegria (Jpn)...

Sent off the 3-1 second favorite to maintain a perfect record in four starts since switching to the grass just after the turn of the calendar, C R K Stable's Exaulted (Twirling Candy) was forwardly placed behind a pair of longshot leaders, got first crack at them into the stretch and kicked home smartly to win the GI Shoemaker Mile Monday at Santa Anita and with it, a fees-paid berth into the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile over the course and distance in November. Away smoothly for Juan Hernandez, the...

Lucky Seven Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Smile Happy (Runhappy), impressive winner of the GII Alysheba S. on the GI Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs May 5, will make his next start in the $1-million GI Stephen Foster S. July 1, trainer Ken McPeek told the track's media office Friday. Eighth in last year's GI Kentucky Derby, the $185,000 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase graduate returned from a 10-month absence with an impressive allowance victory at Oaklawn Park Mar. 16 and was a good third in the GIII Oaklawn Mile Apr....

Stepping up to the top level for the first time in what has already been a productive career, Godolphin's Lemon Pop (Lemon Drop Kid) ran a strong 1600 metres and comfortably held a final-furlong rally from the classy Red le Zele (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) to land Sunday's February S. at Tokyo Racecourse. A fourth consecutive American-bred winner of the 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, Lemon Pop will remain over shorter trips and holds an invitation to the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in...

Tokyo Racecourse plays host to the first of 24 Group 1s on the JRA circuit, Sunday's February S. going a one-turn mile on the dirt track, and with the race's two-time defending champion Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) preparing for next Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup and with would-be favourite Gilded Mirror (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) having recently been retired due to injury, the race is there for the taking for the wonderfully consistent US-bred Lemon Pop (Lemon Drop Kid). The 5-year-old, purchased for $70,000 as a weanling at the 2018 Keeneland November...

Bass Racing LLC's 'TDN Rising Star' Annapolis (War Front) would have been one of the chief protagonists in the 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, but was forced to miss the race after the injury bug bit. Twelve months on, connections have their collective minds set on making up for that missed opportunity, as the colt secured the gun run beneath an in-form Irad Ortiz, Jr. and outsprinted arguably the deepest turf Grade I field of 2022 to become the first 3-year-old since Aussie Rules (Danehill) in...

Winner of the 2020 Springboard Mile, looking every bit a horse with a future, Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) was the 5-2 second favorite when pitched in against the likes of 'TDN Rising Star' and future GI Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in last year's GII Risen Star S. Sidelined off that effort and away nearly 16 months, connections kept the faith, and Saturday, the homebred colt rewarded them with a tough victory in the GIII Ack Ack S. at Churchill, earning a fees-paid berth into the...

Newmarket's three-day Cambridgeshire meeting's titular event, the annual nine-furlong cavalry charge boasting a purse of £200,000, is overshadowed by two Group 1 championships on a bumper Saturday of juvenile action at Headquarters and beyond. First of the elite-level heats is the six-furlong G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S., with ante-post markets pointing to an effective match between Coolmore and Westerberg's Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) and Rockcliffe Stud's homebred Trillium (GB) (No Nay Never). In reality, it is an open edition which also features G2 Lowther S. victrix Swingalong (GB) (Showcasing...

When last seen on these shores, Godolphin's Modern Games (Ire) (c, 3, Dubawi {Ire}--Modern Ideals {GB}, by New Approach {Ire}) was embroiled in the controversy of all controversies, when erroneously scratched, then allowed to run--albeit for purse money only--in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, which he duly won. The homebred is likely back on his way to the Breeders' Cup after pummeling overmatched rivals by five lengths in Saturday's GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile, for which Modern Games earns an all-expenses-paid trip to Keeneland. Allowed to drift back to sit...

Mysterious Night (Ire) (c, 2, Dark Angel {Ire}--Mistrusting {Ire}, by Shamardal) made it back-to-back victories for Godolphin in the GI Pattison Summer S. Saturday, careering away to score by 5 3/4 lengths in the finish from Klaravich Stables' Appraise (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) for an Irish-bred exacta. The Summer S., won last year by Albahr (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), is a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland the first weekend of November. Tightening from 3-5 into 1-2 as the gates flew, the homebred--who wore...