Every Single Damn Thing You Need To Know About Day 1 At The Breeders Cup

The best weekend in horse racing is finally here. Tons of big races over two days. Money to be bet. Money to be won. No need to explain it too much because we all know what's going on. Obviously tomorrow is the bigger day, but that's not to say today isn't loaded. We'll run through the races today, throw out what we like and see what happens. Nothing beats primetime horse racing. 

The Track

Beautiful Del Mar out in California. Where the Surf meets the Turf. Just a massive track that's a mile long and fits 44,000. 

The Conditions 

Yep, that's perfect. 

The Races

There are 10 races at Del Mar today with the Breeders Cup races starting after race 5. We'll focus on those. All odds and pictures are from our friends at Hollywood Races. Download the app here. 

Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (5:50 Eastern, Race 6)

Hard to argue against Averly Jane being the favorite here. Wesley Ward has won this race the last two years and is just a monster at this sort of race. Hell Averly Jane is undefeated in 4 races and has 3 stakes wins. The horse is damn good. You'll want to use her in pick-5s and such. But the goal is to beat her here. I want to find someone that can close in this race and there are decent prices on other Ward's. Now that said the two horses here I want to target are the 7. Armor and 1. Twilight Jet. Armor is going to be my top pick here although I'm a bit scared of the distance. Race is only 5 furlongs and will want to run on late. Pay attention to the 10 here too. Hard to argue against Miller/Prat in California. 

Top Pick - 7. Armor

Use in exotics - 1. Twilight Jet, 8. Averly Jane, 10. Time to Party

Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies (Race 7, 6:30 Eastern) 

There are basically two thought processes here. You single Echo Zulu with Asmussen/Rosario or you have to beat her. It's worth noting that it's Echo Zulu's first two turn race as we're going 1/16 mile here. Not to mention Del Mar does tend to favor the inside here. That's why I'm looking at Hidden Connection here. 2-for-2 with a win at this exact distance at Churchill Downs last month. The 4 could make it a 4 horse race. 

Top pick - 2. Hidden Connection

Use in exotics - 5. Juju's Map, 6. Echo Zulu

Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Race 8, 7:10pm Eastern)

Going a mile on the turf here in a 14-horse race. By far the toughest race on the card today for me. Four horses jump out to me right away - the 1, 5, 11 and 13. Again with the 11 you're looking at Brown/Gaffalione. The 13 from Great Britain is going to be an interesting one to watch. It has hung back and made a run late. She's got 2 wins in 3 races so far. The 1 Pizza Blanca is the current favorite but you can tell by that how wide open the race is. Coming off a 2nd place finish at this distance where it couldn't finish. A little worrisome there, which is why you have to go a bit deeper. Bubble Rock is 2-for-3. She hasn't run at this distance yet but past performance shows she should like the distance increase.

Top pick - 5. Bubble Rock

Play in exotics - 1. Pizza Blanca, 13. Mise En Scene, 11. Haughty, 2. Cairo Memories

Juvenile Classic(Race 9, 7:50 Eastern) 

Massive news here with the scratch of Jack Christopher. That would have been a POPULAR pick. So with that in mind, you have to look at the Baffert horses. Yep, Bob Baffert. That guy. They all control the pace and he has three here with 8, 9 and 12. The 12 is undefeated and with Mike Smith in California too going to be the heavy favorite. I'm going to toss the 8 and focus on the 9 with Baffert instead. The 9. Pinehurst is 2-for-2 lifetime and both wins are at Del Mar, one at 5 furlongs and one at 7 furlongs. 

Top Pick - 9. Pinehurst

Play in exotics - 12. Corniche, 10. Commandperformance, 3. Oviatt Class

Juvenile Turf (Race 10, 8:30pm) 

Another race that feels wide open. 5 horses from Europe coming over and they are all pretty damn strong. I'm going to focus on the 1 here. 3 wins in 5 starts and comes from great lineage. His sire is considered one of the best sires in Europe for mile runners. If he can get to the front and lead about 4-5 furlongs in here, he should win. 

Top Pick - 1. Modern Games

Use in Exotics - 6. Mackinnon, 14. Dubawi Legend, 10. Portfolio Company, 5. Slipstream

Pick 4/5

Tough to play a cheap pick-5. I tend to like to play cheaper ones, maybe split it with a buddy. On one hand, you could single Echo Zulu and play something like this for $128

If you don't want to single, I'd play something along these lines for $144.

Same thing goes for Pick 4s

A single for $32

If you want more coverage in the front but want to keep it cheap, play this for $48

As always things can change with the track, weather, scratches, etc. But this is what I have for now. I'll be on Twitter watching races and talking about them. Shoot me your picks, shoot the shit or whatever there.