Hello from Del Mar racecourse, 20 miles north of San Diego in southern California: where “the turf meets the surf” and also where City Of Troy will bid to make history in the Breeders’ Cup Classic later this afternoon, in the middle of the nine-race main card at the 2024 Breeders’ Cup.
When the gates slam open at around 21.41GMT, we can expect the most intense and compelling two minutes of racing action this year, and perhaps for many a year, as the Derby winner attempts to complete an unprecedented double with a win in America’s most prestigious and valuable all-aged race.
Fifteen horses from the Aidan O’Brien stable have attempted to win the Classic, but none have had the mix of pedigree, class and racing style that City Of Troy will bring to his first (and last) race on dirt today. Whether that will be enough to make it 16th time lucky is anyone’s guess, but Forever Young, from Japan, and Fierceness, the big US-trained hope, will be among the dirt-hardened opponents looking to exploit any hesitancy from the off.
City Of Troy’s run in the Classic was always going to be the focal point of today’s proceedings, but there are, of course, eight more races to think about too, including four on the turf where European runners had a 3-3 clean sweep on Friday.
Bradsell and Big Evs, with Hollie Doyle and her husband, Tom Marquand, aboard respectively, will leave the outside stalls for the Turf Sprint at 19.41GMT, while Rebel’s Romance and Emily Upjohn, with Frankie Dettori in the plate, head the betting for the Turf at 21.01. And once the Classic is done and dusted, there will still be time to run the Filly & Mare Turf (22.25) and the Mile, where Notable Speech, the 2,000 Guineas winner, is expected to start favourite.
It was a hugely promising start for the Europeans on Friday, but there is still much work to be done on Saturday before this can be filed away as a good weekend for the visitors. Japan, too, will be looking for a winner or two from the remaining runners in its unusually strong team for the meeting.
It’s going to be a thrilling ride with, no doubt, a big surprise or three along the way, and the Breeders’ Cup action will be underway at 19.00GMT with the Filly & Mare Sprint. Once we are underway, the action will be unrelenting, but keep tuning in here for video previews of all nine race, live results, betting, post-race quotes and more.
For racing fans everywhere, it is time…