Who Are the Favourites to Win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint?
The 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint racecard is packed with interesting names and Vekoma heads the current betting market, although the Dirt Mile favourite is likely to run in this race rather than the Sprint even if he’s capable of winning either.
If Vekoma doesn’t run in this race, then we might see Shancelot heavily backed for victory and the four-year-old has had a series of excellent races although a failure to win any of his last three races could give punters cause for concern.
There’s also the fact that we haven’t seen the horse make an appearance since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last season and connections will hope he can go one better than finishing second behind favourite Mitole.
Yaupon is another interesting runner who looks like he could make the frame in this Breeders’ Cup betting race, with the Steven Asmussen-trained charge winning the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes in Saratoga, with Joel Rosario expected to take this ride.
The History of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint
There are only fourteen runners that can line up in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint race, with five automatic berths made available for horses that qualify by winning certain elite races through the course of the season.
The current races for Breeders’ Cup Sprint qualification are as follows
John A. Nerud Stakes, a Grade 2 race run in July at Belmont Park in New York Bing Crosby Handicap, a Grade 1 race run in July at Del Mar racetrack in California Vosburgh Stakes, a Grade 1 race run in October at Belmont Park in New York Phoenix Stakes, a Grade 3 race at Keeneland in Kentucky Santa Anita Sprint Championship, a Grade 1 race at Santa Anita Park in California.
The race has been in operation since 1984 and Roy H was a back-to-back winner in 2017 and 2018, while Bob Baffert has been a serial winning trainer of this race with five successes.
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships is an annual series of races that take place at different race tracks and the 2019 version will occur at Santa Anita.
The Breeders’ Cup Sprint is highly popular and, as the name suggests, we get the exciting prospect of horses battling it out over six furlongs for a huge purse.
The race was first run in 1984 and the purse now stands at $2,000,000, with Roy H winning the past two renewals and going down in American racing folklore. The Peter Miller-trained charge won the race at ages 5 and 6 but won’t be back to defend his crown again.
Mitole and Imperial Hint Among Favourites
Mitole has burst on to the scene as a four-year-old and has run five times since April, with the horse triumphing on four occasions. Most recently, the charge landed the spoils at Saratoga when winning the Forego Stakes and that was an impressive Grade 1 success.
Back in July, Mitole was beaten when sent off as the 1/2 favourite, with the bookies toasting the fact that Imperial Hint was the winner on that occasion when the pair clashed in another Grade 1 race at Saratoga.
It looks likely that there will be a renewal of the rivalry in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, with Imperial Hint trading at a similar price and the horse was recently successful in a race at Belmont Park.
The six-year-old obliged at odds of 1/4 to beat Firenze Fire, with the runner now being primed for a big run at Santa Anita.
Perhaps the favourite will come from the front two in the betting, although this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint looks to be an open renewal and Shancelot is trading as third favourite at 9/2.
This horse is something of an unknown considering that he’s only aged 3 and fairly inexperienced, although it’s been a promising year for a charge who ran very recently at Santa Anita.
Having been sent off as odds-on favourite, the horse found one too good for him, with Omaha Beach landing the victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Championship Stakes.
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