Four Wheel Drive wins from fron in Juvenile Turf Sprint to set toneBig shock as outsiders fill first three places in day one’s final race 11.40pm GMT
Europe’s challenge for the three juvenile turf races on the first day of this year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting came up well short here on Friday, as only Daahyeh, in Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, managed even to make the frame.
Arizona and Albigna, well backed for the Juvenile Turf and Juvenile Fillies’ Turf respectively, both finished unplaced without ever threatening to land a serious blow.
The first race of the meeting, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, set the tone for the day as a six-strong raiding party – half of the field – could manage no better than a fifth-place finish for Tom Dascombe’s Dr Simpson, as Four Wheel Drive won it from the front. 11.28pm GMT
Many thousands of stunned punters are heading away from Santa Anita after that shock result in the Juvenile, but many thousands more will be back here tomorrow for the main card, and nine Breeders’ Cup races in all.
I’ll be back in my blogging chair from around 18.00GMT tomorrow and I hope you’ll join me as Anthony Van Dyck, Old Persian, Circus Maximus and more go hunting for the glory of a Breeders’ Cup victory. This is Greg Wood at Santa Anita, signing off.