- John Velazquez has been booked to ride Araafa in the Breeders Cup Mile, and that's apparently worth a point in the odds.
As a result, Stan James has shortened the Irish 2000 Guineas hero, trimming the three-year-old in to 5-1 from 6-1.- Breeders Cup officials expect overflow entries for seven of the eight races, with the exception of the Turf, which has suffered from several European defections. Rush Bay is said to be a last minute entry.
Neil Morrice, on-course and media representative, said: “Araafa’s ability to lie up with the pace and attain a handy position should stand him in good stead in the Mile and in John Velazquez his connections have snapped up the best man in the business.
“It would not surprise us to see across-the-board support for the colt when the news gets around.” [Irish Online]
5 Comments:
I would imagine she was cross-entered, Stalusk. We'll find out tomorrow. Horses that are cross-entered are required to give a "1st preference" and a "2nd preference", but it doesn't necessarily mean anything. Ouija Board's first preference was the Turf a couple of years ago, and of course she eventually ran in the F&M Turf. It'll be interesting to see if George Washington was cross-entered, btw.
Will Ouija Board go to the Turf due to the low number of entries there?
I suppose it's possible she was cross-entered, but i haven't heard anything from her connections regarding the Turf all year long. I'd say the chances of her contesting that race are extremely slim.
That being said, if she did go in the Turf, she'd have to rank right near the top. It's too bad Pride wasn't entered, i'd have loved to see her in there.
I think we'll see Gorella in the Mile. And I haven't heard any talk of Ouija Board in the Turf.
I was reading about Scorpion; seems to be an interesting entry, though he's had only one race this year. Any thoughts on him?
Scorpion is a reach. He hasn't won a top-level race in quite a long time, and even at his apex, he isn't the type of horse who would've vied for Breeders Cup favoritism. I'm far more interested in Red Rocks, who i think has some things going for him, and should be a very attractive price. I'll dig deeper into Scorpion's race record the next time i'm perusing the Euro-sites, but i know he was laid up with an injury for quite a while before recently re-appearing in a lower level race.
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