Appleby Stars Spearhead a Strong British Breeders’ Cup Squad
Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky, will stage the 39th Breeders Cup meeting on November 4th and 5th. Billed as the 2022 World Championships by organizers, the two-day festival will feature 14 Championship races and $31 million in prize money.
William Buick, aboard Charlie Appleby’s Yibir, touched off Flavien Prat to claim victory in last season’s Breeders’ Cup Turf. Prat will ride Flightline in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. ©GettyImages
The headlining contest is the ten-furlong $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. Its cast is headed by Flightline, a striking unbeaten four-year-old that landed Del Mar’s Grade-1 TVG Pacific Classic Stakes by 19 lengths on his latest outing.
Normally the merit of such a rout – visually similar to Secretariat’s legendary demolition of the 1973 Belmont Stakes field – can be questioned. However, as Country Grammer, winner of the $12 million Dubai World Cup took second, the form looks solid.
Bookies Are Ready to Take Flight
On his previous start, Flightline effortlessly dispatched Grade-1 winner Happy Saver by six lengths. His three prior victories saw 17 rivals accounted for by a minimum of 11 lengths on each occasion.
The racing world is in awe. Ratings compiled under the auspices of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) – by racing officials and handicappers representing the five continents – give this star performer a rating of 139. To quantify that, the brilliant unbeaten Baaeed is rated 135.
Sportsbooks offering early odds on the Breeders Cup Classic have Flightline priced at 8/13. Last season’s Breeders Cup Dirt Mile winner, Life Is Good, and Epicenter follows in the betting at 6/1. The latter, runner-up in this season’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, impressively took the Grade-1 Travers Stakes on his latest outing. As a three-year-old, he will receive four pounds from his older rivals.
Play the Game With Modern in the Mile
The Breeders’ Cup Classic is a mouth-watering contest. But it is the European challenge that generates the most interest for racing fans on this side of the Atlantic. Last year Europe had three winners at the meeting. All were trained at Newmarket by Charlie Appleby. Godolphin’s private trainer now boasts a remarkable record of six Breeders’ Cup winners from just 11 runners.
Modern Games will seek to take his second Breeders’ Cup title in Keeneland at the start of November. ©Bill Denver/Breeders Cup
That score could be bettered in 2022 as Appleby intends to aim last year’s Juvenile Turf winner, Modern Games, at the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Coming off a wide-margin victory in Canada’s Woodbine Mile, he is just 7/4 with the best horse racing betting sites.
The trainer will attempt to retain the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf title. The latest reports suggest last weekend’s Emirates Autumn Stakes winner, Silver Knott, will represent his Moulton Paddocks stables. Mysterious Night – who crossed the Atlantic to win a Grade-1 contest at Woodbine in mid-September – is another Appleby inmate that could be aimed at this contest.
Three Chances to Dig up a Turf Winner
An embarrassment of riches could see Appleby with an even stronger hand in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. It is a race he won last year with Yibir. His Nations Pride has competed in the US for his last three starts and netted Graded success at Saratoga and Belmont Park. It makes him stand out.
Globe-trotter, Rebel’s Romance, is another candidate for the Appleby yard. On a winning sequence of four, this four-year-old son of Dubawi has claimed German Group-1 contests on his last two starts. And the 2021 Epsom Derby winner, Adayar, could also book his flight ticket with a satisfactory performance against Baaeed in Saturday’s Champion Stakes.
Three Chances for the Ladies
Europe’s chances of Breeders’ Cup success by no means hinges solely on Charlie Appleby. Smaller yards with drastically smaller resources have strong chances of snagging one of the valuable contests.
John Quinn’s Highfield Princess has been kept busy in 2022. But she has landed four of her last five, most recently taking York’s Nunthorpe Stakes and the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh. This speedball mare is just 5/2 to complete a remarkable season by landing the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
The Platinum Queen became the first two-year-old since 1978 to win the Prix de l’Abbaye on l’Arc de Triomphe day. Her trainer, Richard Fahy, now wants to take his £57,000 purchase stateside to contest the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
If doing so, Hollie Doyle could retain the ride. To date, no non-American female jockey has won a Breeders Cup race. The last woman to ride a Breeders’ Cup winner was Rosie Napravnik in 2014.
How to Watch Breeders’ Cup 2022 Races
In June, the Breeders’ Cup announced multi-year agreements with ITV, Sky Sports Racing, and Racing TV to continue their live broadcast coverage of the Breeders’ Cup in the UK and Ireland.
“The Breeders’ Cup World Championships is a premier international event and we’re delighted that fans in the UK and Ireland will once again be able to watch the most talented horses, jockeys, and trainers in the world compete during our two days of championship racing,” said Breeders’ Cup President and CEO Drew Fleming at the time.
For those without television access, live streaming betting sites will also broadcast live action from the Kentucky racetrack. The first of five Breeders’ Cup juvenile races scheduled for Friday, November 4th begins at 7 pm GMT. The Saturday card, with nine Breeders’ Cup contests for older horses, starts at 3.50 pm GMT.
