I'll stand against a few favorites, hang my hat on a few longshots, and entrust a couple of legitimate logical players in what should be a fascinating late pick 5 Saturday at Del Mar. Good luck on your Breeders' Cup plays.
Race 8: Turf
The obvious players here are favorites #8 Minnie Hauk and two-time Turf winner #1 Rebel’s Romance. Can’t punch a lot of holes in either, but often the European who finds success in the Turf isn’t the one everyone’s talking about. It’s the end of their season and the improving sort can find the timing to their advantage. Enter #3 Amiloc, who continues to progress. Three-deep from overseas.
Race 9: Classic
The 2025 sophomore class was exceptional, and I’m impressed how both #9 Journalism and #2 Baeza have trained for this. Neither would shock me. #5 Forever Young comes in freshened and if he can get back to his Saudi Cup form earlier this year, he’s the elder from last year’s Classic to fear. #8 Mindframe hasn’t had the cleanest schedule obviously, but his talent on display at Churchill in May won the strongest race of the year to my eye. He’s fresh now.
Race 10: Mile
My longshot plays Saturday come in the Mile and we’ll need to be right on either #13 Qirat (pictured) as the potential controlling speed from the UK or the Japanese mare #9 Argine. I’m not sold on the finishing kick of the favorite Notable Speech, who was outfooted late in last year’s race as the chalk. The can of worms feels open in this race. Might as well be our worms.
Race 11: Dirt Mile
Likely favorite #3 Nysos and defending Dirt Mile champion #6 Full Serrano make for a powerful 1-2 punch. You can make cases for others, but to beat both of those horses will take a lot of doing. Both have been exceptional over the Del Mar surface.
Race 12: Filly & Mare Turf
The logical players are standouts in a deep field by numbers, but it’s hard to look past #13 She Feels Pretty as the top American threat against Europeans #14 See the Fire and #9 Cinderella’s Dream. She Feels Pretty might get a dream trip sitting third behind two dueling speedsters, while the company lines See the Fire has been keeping are absolutely world-class against males. Cinderella’s Dream should have won this race last year if not for the trip and trainer Charlie Appleby has sounded rather confident about her as much or more than any of his BC entrants this year.
The Ticket:
3,8,1 with 9,8,2,5 with 13,9 with 3,6 with 13,14,9 = $72 for $.50
Single 3-NYSOS in the Dirt Mile to make a $36 play for budget purposes.
.svg){kind=logo}
