JC / Railbird

Racing Archive

Breeders’ Cup Stats

Winners win: 48% of Breeders’ Cup winners in the past 10 years won their final prep race, according to Jon White’s research, and 86% finished in the money. Of course, most Breeders’ Cup starters are coming off strong performances — in 2012, 28 of 59 runners on BC Friday won their last race (43 were in the money), and 41 of 103 on Saturday did (75 were ITM). In 2011, 29 of 69 runners on BC Friday won their previous starts (55 were ITM), and 40 of 104 on Saturday were winners (80 were ITM).

New York wins? Heading into last year’s Breeders’ Cup, starters coming off a prep race in New York didn’t have a great record in Arcadia. In the five previous Breeders’ Cup runnings at Santa Anita, 17 New York-prepped horses finished in the money, and only one won. In 2012, though, horses who prepped in New York won two races on BC Friday, and four races on Saturday. Another four finished second or third on Friday, while five did the same on Saturday, out of a total of 11 New York starters on Friday and 25 on Saturday. The Classic was a particularly New York affair — the top four finishers all last raced in the Jockey Club Gold Cup or the Woodward.

Stats and charts for every Breeders’ Cup are available here.

Posted in Racing on October 10, 2013 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Statistics

Super Saturday 2013

Today’s group and graded stakes with potential Breeders’ Cup implications from Newmarket to Churchill Downs, listed in order of approximate post time:

Race names link to summary results, winner names to replays.

There’s also the ungraded Unzip Me Stakes at Santa Anita (post time 9:14 PM ET), and almost a full card’s worth of maiden special weights for juveniles: Race two (1:36 PM ET) and race three (2:07 PM ET) at Belmont; race one (4:00 PM ET), race three (5:04 PM ET), and race four (5:37 PM ET) at Santa Anita; and race three (6:56 PM ET) and race six (8:30 PM ET) at Churchill Downs.

Among the many notable runners today are Pachelbel, the first foal of Music Note, winner of several stakes, including the 2008 Mother Goose and 2009 Beldame, making his first career start in race two at Belmont for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, and Take Control, the now 6-year-old son of Azeri and A.P. Indy making his first start in more than a year and just his fourth career start overall. What’s he been up to? That’s a good question.

1:00 PM: Hello Race Fans picks for today’s 10 G1 races are up.

Posted in Racing on September 28, 2013 / Tagged Belmont Park, Breeders' Cup, Churchill Downs, Newmarket, Santa Anita, Super Saturday

The Moment

When trainer John Shirreffs knew that he wanted to work with Thoroughbreds:

“I got on his back, and I could feel his heart pumping under my legs,” Shirreffs, 68, said. “It was so clear that he wanted to work with me. It was magnificent, and from then on I wanted to know everything about them and the people who worked with them.”

Less poetically, it was 10 years ago today that I and Mr. Railbird went to Suffolk Downs for the first time and won $39 on a chestnut gelding named Ascot Doll. My life hasn’t been the same since, and I couldn’t be more grateful — for every friend I’ve met through horse racing, for every opportunity I’ve been given in the game, and to every horse I’ve watched run.

Posted in Racing on August 16, 2013