Del Mar racetrack will host the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships for the fourth time since 2017 this weekend. The Friday card features five Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds, with 56 entrants vying for $7 million in purses. Favorites won 6 of the 14 Juvenile stakes at Del Mar, but three of the morning-line choices this year drew outside posts 8, 13 and 14, an interesting note for bettors as they construct their 50-cent Pick 5 ticket.
DMR 6th race (5:45 p.m. EST) -- Aidan O’Brien (pictured), the all-time leading Breeders’ Cup trainer, poses a triple threat in the Juvenile Turf Sprint with three European invaders making their U.S. debut. But make no mistake, TRUE LOVE, one of five fillies entered in the 5F grass race, will draw most of the attention. She defeated 22 rivals in the G-2 Queen Mary Stakes at Ascot, then beat the boys in the G-1 Phoenix at the Curragh. But O’Brien said he “couldn’t be happier since her last run” in a post-race interview after the G-2 Chevely Park at Newmarket. INTRICATE SPIRIT, 12-1 on the morning line, posted ascending speed figures to win on three turf courses to start his career. He can stalk a torrid pace as he did in winning the G-3 Futurity at Aqueduct. Trainer Miguel Clement, 27-percent in graded stakes this year, said in published reports that the shorter distance will suit the G-3 winner well.
DMR 7th race (6:25 p.m. EST) -- SUPER CORREDORA passed her first long-distance test with flying colors and is a must use in the BC Juvenile Fillies at 15-1 on the morning line. She quickly overcame traffic problems on the first turn, pressed the pace-setter until she took over on the far turn, then left the onrushing favorite in the stretch dust. PERCY’S BAR was resilient on the front end in the G-1 Alcibiades at Keeneland and appeared to have the winning momentum against unbeaten TOMMY JO, only to be disqualified for soundly bumping the 2-to-5 favorite inside the eighth pole. Speed has carried well in dirt route races in three runnings of the Breeders Cup at Del Mar. That suits morning-line favorite EXPLORA, who can dictate the pace if she wants for Del Mar’s leading jockey Juan Hernandez, or she can come from just off of it as she did in winning her first route race by 4-1/2 widening lengths in the G-2 Oak Leaf.
DMR 8th race (7:05 p.m. EST) -- To be PRECISE, O’Brien likes his chances for a third victory since 2022 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. PRECISE validated an “eye-catching” runner-up finish in her debut with four consecutive turf victories at various venues in England and Ireland. She will have to be good to win from post 13 at Del Mar, but her most recent victory in the G-1 Fillies Mile drew the utmost praise from her trainer, who said in the Final Furlong Podcast that “she’s a very special filly … she was incredibly special at Newmarket.” ULTIMATE LOVE, who starts from the rail, rallied to win her first three starts by a combined 13-1/2 lengths. She was in-hand to the far turn when she won the 1-1/16-mile Selima Stakes at Laurel but pulled away late to finish a full second faster than the boys in the Laurel Futurity on the same card.
DMR 9th race (7:45 p.m. EST) -- Hall of Fame trainers Todd Pletcher and Bob Baffert have 10 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile wins between them and they send out the two favorites in this 1-1-/16-mile test. Pletcher saddles unbeaten 4-to-5 favorite TED NOFFEY, who conquered this distance to win his second G-1 race in a row in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. Baffert counters with $3 million sales buy BRANT, who went off at 1-to-9 odds in the G-1 Del Mar Futurity after he earned a 101 Beyer speed figure in a debut win. INTREPIDO is a longshot worth considering. He steadied on the first turn and was bounced around looking for room on the final turn in his maiden win at the distance. He closed furiously in the closing yards to prevail.
DMR 10th race (8:25 p.m. EST) -- Yet another favorite starts from the outside in the Juvenile Turf. GSTAAD finished on the wrong side of three consecutive G-1 photo finishes overseas, all at 8-5 odds or less. He appears the one to beat but goes beyond 7F for the first time and draws post 14, prompting a four-deep punch in the final leg of the Pick 5. STREET BEAST, content to track the loose leader while in-hand until the stretch, accelerated quickly to run away with a Juvenile Mile stakes victory at Kentucky Downs. HEY NAY NAY, keen to go on from the outset, settled just off the pace in the Del Mar Futurity, took a commanding lead in the stretch in her first route race and held safe the late-charging runner-up. Looking for a 30-1 longshot? STARK CONTRAST found his best stride late in back-to-back wins at one mile for locally-based trainer Michael McCarthy, who shows a positive return on investment with 112 graded stakes starters.
Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
DMR 6th Race: 6, 9
DMR 7th Race: 4, 5, 7, 8
DMR 8th Race: 1, 13
DMR 9th Race: 1, 7, 8
DMR 10th Race: 2, 8, 13, 14
Cost: $96
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