Breeders' Futurity Stakes

And then, um, uh, on, on another subject, Bethbug45, I thought this was kinda cheeky and, and cute.

Uh, we're talking about the, uh, Breeders' Futurity, when American History upset Coach Pope, named for the, uh, Kentucky basketball coach.

Said, uh, or he or she said, "The look on Coach Pope's face when American History caught him was my favorite moment in this weekend.

Frame worthy." Okay, so not the best result for fans of the University of Kentucky's basketball team, but they'll g- be just fine as they always are.

So the reason why the Koreans wanted to make a plush of a very American horse is because the Korean Racing Authority bought Nyquist go as a yearling, and they owned him throughout his racing career.

But, um, he was a mercurial front-runner, and his first big success was when he was at 70 to one, and he won the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity.

Um, and then came second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

He tailed off for a while, and then when he became an older horse, um, under the, uh, under Brad Cox, Brad Cox kind of 180-ed this horse.

Uh, all right.

Well, the horses that, well, as of right now are, are maybe gonna be in the race, um, you know, American History goes on to win the, the, uh, the Futurity, uh, the Claiborne Futurity, and then, uh, Breeders' Futurity.

And then, um, uh, out, out in, out west in the American Pharoah, you had Hughes who did it again for Bob Baffert.

We talked a lot about him last week on the show, kind of like, hey, you know what? We don't really know what he is, and if he goes out and does it again, it looks awesome.

The Hughes, we mentioned him several times, 8 to 5 currently.

Of course with no USS Valor.

Coach Pope, who lost in the Futurity, to Americanhistory at 9 to 2.

Americanhistory at 5 to 1.

Yeah, and some of that stuff is true.

Yeah, I mean, Ted Nafi last year looked like any kind of horse when he won the Breeders' Futurity, and then he went on to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and you haven't heard from him since.

Um- But there's also, you know, Forte came back and ran well in the Triple Crown.

Fierceness came back and ran well as a three-year-old.

You, you just don't know that.

But the bottom line here, this was a sensational race.

This was, this was a much better race, as it turns out, than the Breeders' Futurity, and run in com- in completely different fashion, though.

Uh, Emphatic got away with a pretty soft pace.

I know Jose Ortiz thinks very highly of him.

And so he's going to be one that we can think maybe we'll bounce back and Seeing these horses coming well out of Saratoga, American History, another one who broke his maiden at Saratoga, comes out and runs very well there to win the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland this weekend.

I think those horses, those maiden winners at Saratoga, I think they're going to be pretty tough.

I think this is going to be a year where we see some of these top two-year-olds do make that transition and are the leading three-year-olds on the derby trail next year.

So there is precedent for, you know, these races, especially at Keeneland with that short stretch, for the horses to have the experience over it to benefit from that, get more fit for it, and do better on the second time.

I do think that that is something that we could see from these guys here.

But I think a lot of the discussion about the Breeders' Futurity has been on Coach Pope and QB Rocket and the pace they set.

I want to give American History his credit because he was a horse that at Saratoga, he...

Lots of two-year-olds lining up for their chances to qualify for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Races October 30th at Keeneland.

Kenny McPeak has a few, including odds-on favorite Coach Pope in the Breeders' Futurity.

We catch up with Kenny today.

Paddock Prince David Levitch handicaps the Breeders' Futurity and the Champagne and Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont.

And we'll have feedback about last week's interview with Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO Bill Carstangen.

You heard from Keith Nelson at Fairmount Park, from his lavish home in Kansas City.

But if Coach Pope runs a massive race here and really stretches out to two turns well, because obviously he ran it a mile last time, he could be a horse that could be very close to favorite to him in the Breeders' Cup.

Looking forward to that.

opinion.

And you also have the American Pharoah on the West Coast happening on the same weekend, the Breeders' Futurity happening on the same weekend.

You're not really at a disadvantage of anybody else that's running in the

top-level two-year-old races going into it.