Battleground winning at Goodwood in July© Photo Healy Racing
This year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting takes place over two days, Friday 6 November and Saturday 7 November, at the Keeneland racecourse in Kentucky.
This is the second time the event will be staged at Keeneland but the first time it will take place behind closed doors. Due to Covid_19 restrictions no public will be permitted to attend the Championships.
Joseph O’Brien’s Iridessa was the sole Irish trained winner over the two-day event last year when she landed the $2 million dollar Filly and Mare Turf in the hands of Wayne Lordan but Irish trained runners look to have strong credentials in a number of key races this time around.
Joseph O'Brien and Wayne Lordan strike as Iridessa wins the $2m @MakersMark @BreedersCup Filly and Mare Turf... #BC19 pic.twitter.com/yNVswPC3SU— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 2, 2019
Joseph O'Brien and Wayne Lordan strike as Iridessa wins the $2m @MakersMark @BreedersCup Filly and Mare Turf... #BC19 pic.twitter.com/yNVswPC3SU
The Juvenile Turf sees a number of Irish trained runners towards the head of the ante-post market with Aidan O’Brien’s Battleground (7/2) and St Marks Basilica (6/1) to the fore ahead of the Jessica Harrington trained pair Cadillac (7/1) and Lucky Vega (10/1).
Aidan O’Brien is also likely to play a strong hand in the Breeders’ Cup Turf where he can draw on such star performers as Love, Mogul and Magical to name but three of his impressive contenders.
The Irish betting sites for the Filly and Mare Turf are dominated by Irish trained horses with Dermot Weld’s dual Group 1 scorer Tarnawa (4/1) heading up the betting ahead of the likes of Love (5/1), Magical (5/1), Alpine Star (6/1), Cayenne Pepper (8/1), Fancy Blue (8/1) and Champs Elysees (12/1).
Joseph O'Brien (holding trophy) pictured after the win of Iridessa at Santa Anita 2019© Photo Healy Racing
The O’Brien brothers, Joseph and Donnacha, have two real contenders for the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Pretty Gorgeous (7/1) and Shale (10/1) respectively. The market for this race is headed up by the Wesley Ward trained Royal Ascot winner Campanelle (4/1) which was bred in Ireland at Tally-Ho Stud.
The Ger Lyons trained Irish 2000 Guineas winner Siskin (10/1) is being aimed at the Breeders' Cup Mile which is set to be the Classic winning colt's last racecourse appearance before heading off to stud.
With a total of $31 million in purses and awards up for grabs next month’s Breeders’ Cup is always a weekend’s racing not to be missed but the strong Irish challenge for this year’s event adds extra spice.
The Breeders’ Cup organising committee has recently announced that due to the crowd restrictions for this year's at Keeneland the event will return to the same venue in 2022 when the enthusiastic Kentucky audience can once again pack out the enclosures for one of the sporting world’s greatest spectacles.
