Breeders' Cup Win and You're In

She looked to have it all to do entering the final three furlongs of Saturday's GII Rodeo Drive Stakes, a Breeders' Cup qualifier for the GI Filly and Mare Turf down at Del Mar in four weeks, but Hang the Moon (Uncle Mo) kicked it in approaching the stretch and outfinished the rail-skimming Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify) to cause a 9-1 upset. Iscreamuscream (Twirling Candy), last-out winner of the GI Del Mar Oaks and favored at 3-2 while facing her elders here, led them along after some wayward ways across...

Never before in his nine-race career had 'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) led at the first or second call of any of his races. Never before, even more remarkably, had Chad Brown unsaddled a winner of the GI Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland. But, drawn widest in a field of nine for Saturday's 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile the flashy chestnut was ridden for speed from out there by Tyler Gaffalione and found extra in the final furlong to...

What a way to tally a first career graded stakes. Both trainer Jorge Abreu and his charge, who entered Saturday with only a third-place finish under her girth, broke their graded maiden with a runaway score in the GI Frizette Stakes at Belmont at the Big A. Now Abreu and Scottish Lassie (f, 2, McKinzie--Bodebabe, by Bodemeister) have earned a fees-paid berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in four weeks. Abreu, a former assistant to Chad Brown, brought a longshot filly to the Juvenile Fillies last year and...

Saturday is one of those 'burn the candle at both ends' kind of days for horseplayers, as no fewer than 17 graded stakes take place within a six-hour window. Eight of those events serve as 'Win and You're In' qualifying events for various Breeders' Cup races, and even those races that don't offer a free pass are liable to toss up a runner or two or three at Del Mar in four weeks' time. Keeneland Race Course brands its opening three days of racing as 'Fall Stars Weekend' and who's...

GIII Vosburgh Stakes winner Mufasa (Chi) (Practical Joke) was expected to arrive back at Keeneland Sunday, and has two races on Championship weekend under consideration, trainer Ignacio Correas IV confirmed. The 4 1/4-length victory in the "Win and You're In" Breeders' Cup Challenge race was the first North American graded score for the Chilean star since arriving in the U.S. While Mufasa has a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, Correas has said that the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is also under consideration. Grade...

Cuyathy LLC's Johannes (Nyquist) consolidated his position at the top of the West Coast turf mile division with a comprehensive victory in Saturday's GII City of Hope Mile Stakes, in so doing locking up a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Favored at 4-5 to add to victories in this track's May 27 GI Shoemaker Mile Stakes and the nine-furlong GII Eddie Read Stakes last time at the seaside July 28, the homebred made best use of his low draw...

With just a neck separating National Treasure (Quality Road) and Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) in a thrilling renewal of the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes back in January, the two will meet for the third time this season in Saturday's inaugural GI California Crown Stakes at Santa Anita. Senor Buscador turned the tables on National Treasure and delivered a come-from-behind head victory in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup Feb. 24, then was a well-beaten third in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup. Given plenty of time to bounce back following...

With better than three months left on the racing calendar for 2024, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) has already locked up the 3-year-old filly championship, having dominated her peers in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, GI Acorn Stakes and GI Coaching Club American Oaks. She lost little in defeat when running fellow 'Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) to a head in the GI Travers Stakes, but she returns to her own sex for Saturday's $1-million GI Cotillion Stakes, the first half of a Grade I double in...

Mark Casse-trained horses ran 1-2-3-5 in the first of Saturday's Grade I events at Woodbine, the Natalma Stakes, led by Live Oak's And One More Time (Omaha Beach). The barn accounted for the exacta in the day's final elite-level affair when 13-1 Win for the Money (Mohaymen) slipped through at the fence following a ground-saving journey to upend pacesetting stablemate Filo Di Arianna (Brz) (Drosselmeyer) in the GI Rogers Woodbine Mile and punch his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Content to linger...

Britain's first-crop Kitten's Joy stallion Kameko got his first Grade I victory Saturday across the pond with Qatar Racing's New Century (GB) (c, 2, Kameko--Potent Embrace, by Street Cry {Ire}), who captured the GI bet365 Summer Stakes at Woodbine for conditioner Andrew Balding and earned a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar in November. Al Qudra (Ire) (No Nay Never), a Charlie Appleby shipper whom New Century chased home in July at Ascot in the Pat Eddery Stakes, was...

Whisper Hill Farm's Grand Sonata (Medaglia d'Oro) saved ground when it mattered most, slipped through inside with less than a quarter mile to race and kept on nicely to cause a 15-1 upset in Saturday's GII Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. The victory earns the homebred a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Drawn widest in a field scratched down to nine with the late withdrawal of Ballydoyle's Chief Little Rock (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the homebred slotted into about...

It wouldn't rise to the level of a horse like Dare and Go stunning history-seeking Cigar in the 1996 renewal, but it was a surprise of similar magnitude in Saturday's GI FanDuel Pacific Classic, as Calumet Farm's Mixto (Good Magic) plugged on late and grabbed an exceptionally game Full Serrano (Arg) (Full Mast) to earn a fees-paid berth into the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at odds of 22-1 some may have considered underlaid. Mixto, who owned just a maiden victory from 13 starts prior to Saturday, was...