Breeders’ Cup horse racing 2024: day two – live

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Steve Asmussen’s Society is next in the betting, she won the Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga last time out:

We have been racing here since what felt like dawn – American fans feel short-changed by anything much less than a dozen races on a card – but the Breeders’ Cup races are underway in around 20 minute with the Filly & Mare Sprint over seven furlongs.

The likely favourite here is Ways And Means, a Grade One winner at Saratoga in August who comes in on a three-race winning streak.

A little bit about Del Mar. This is a beautiful and historic track, co-founded by the legendary crooner and turf fan, Bing Crosby, who was on the gate to personally hand out the first ticket on opening day in July 1937. The current season here, in fact, which runs until 1 December, is officially the “Bing Crosby” season, and this is a track that likes to acknowledge and celebrate its place in racing history.

It was the scene of a famous match race between the great Seabiscuit and Ligaroti a year after its opening …

… and there are displays, photographs and old posters on the walls throughout the grandstand – did you know, for instance, that Betty Grable was a keen racehorse owner and fan here? Anyone wanting a really deep dive into Del Mar’s past, meanwhile, should check out this page on their website, which goes through the decades in granular detail.

Preamble

Hello from Del Mar racecourse, 20 miles north of San Diego in southern California: where “the turf meets the surf” and also where City Of Troy will bid to make history in the Breeders’ Cup Classic later this afternoon, in the middle of the nine-race main card at the 2024 Breeders’ Cup.

When the gates slam open at around 21.41GMT, we can expect the most intense and compelling two minutes of racing action this year, and perhaps for many a year, as the Derby winner attempts to complete an unprecedented double with a win in America’s most prestigious and valuable all-aged race.

Fifteen horses from the Aidan O’Brien stable have attempted to win the Classic, but none have had the mix of pedigree, class and racing style that City Of Troy will bring to his first (and last) race on dirt today. Whether that will be enough to make it 16^th time lucky is anyone’s guess, but Forever Young, from Japan, and Fierceness, the big US-trained hope, will be among the dirt-hardened opponents looking to exploit any hesitancy from the off.

City Of Troy’s run in the Classic was always going to be the focal point of today’s proceedings, but there are, of course, eight more races to think about too, including four on the turf where European runners had a 3-3 clean sweep on Friday.

Bradsell and Big Evs, with Hollie Doyle and her husband, Tom Marquand, aboard respectively, will leave the outside stalls for the Turf Sprint at 19.41GMT, while Rebel’s Romance and Emily Upjohn, with Frankie Dettori in the plate, head the betting for the Turf at 21.01. And once the Classic is done and dusted, there will still be time to run the Filly & Mare Turf (22.25) and the Mile, where Notable Speech, the 2,000 Guineas winner, is expected to start favourite.

It was a hugely promising start for the Europeans on Friday, but there is still much work to be done on Saturday before this can be filed away as a good weekend for the visitors. Japan, too, will be looking for a winner or two from the remaining runners in its unusually strong team for the meeting.

It’s going to be a thrilling ride with, no doubt, a big surprise or three along the way, and the Breeders’ Cup action will be underway at 19.00GMT with the Filly & Mare Sprint. Once we are underway, the action will be unrelenting, but keep tuning in here for video previews of all nine race, live results, betting, post-race quotes and more.

For racing fans everywhere, it is time…