Breeders' Cup Future Stars Friday reaction as Ballydoyle edge Godolphin 2-1

There was some unexpected heat at Keeneland for the first day of the 39th Breeders’ Cup. The cool days we’ve had in the build-up were replaced by 24 degrees sunshine, hot for the time of year, and there were plenty of misjudged jackets, including my own.

Michael Tabor found shade under the signature American sycamore tree in the stunning Keeneland parade ring. This is one of the world’s great racetracks and the picturesque paddock is the first thing you see as you come through the main gates. You can’t miss the sycamore with its white trunk and orange leaves and it provided cover for plenty looking for five minutes in the shade.

Out on the track there was no hiding place and it was the big firms who puffed their chests out, Ballydoyle beating Godolphin 2-1 as all three Breeders’ Cup turf races went to European racing’s biggest chiefs.

“It’s never easy,” quipped Ryan Moore after Victoria Road edged out Silver Knott as Aidan O’Brien and Charlie Appleby took their personal battle to extremes in the closing Juvenile Turf. It looked like William Buick had timed his challenge perfectly up the rail, but in a bob of heads it was Victoria Road who landed the prize, by a nose, a first Grade 1 for his stallion Saxon Warrior.

O’Brien pointed out that fact in his post-race interview, probably because he didn’t have any Saxon Warrior branding on him. By then he had regained his composure, thinking of the commercial arm of the Coolmore operation, but earlier in the day he showed rare emotion after landing a first Juvenile Fillies’ Turf.

A Breeders’ Cup race over a mile, on turf, for juveniles, it screams O’Brien. But he was 0/15 coming into the race and the unbridled joy in his celebrations was great to watch. Sunglasses on, smile wide, O’Brien shook every hand he could find after Meditate crossed the line two-and-a-half lengths clear.

Earlier on, squinting in the sunshine, stood on the main track after the opening Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, was trainer Appleby, a man who can do no wrong at this meeting. Incredibly, Mischief Magic was his fourth winner in a row at the Breeders’ Cup. Indeed, forgetting his sunglasses is the only mistake he must’ve made, his record at the championships now 7 wins from 13 runners, a win percentage of 53.8%, after Friday’s first and second. I’d be happy with that strike-rate at getting to work on time.

Mischief Magic had to do it the hard way from way off the pace. Wriggling his way through under Buick when the gaps might’ve closed on him on another day. “Give him daylight and the old bugger just might have a second chance,” Appleby said of his instructions to Buick, an order that might well have been going through his rider’s mind as he sat a couple of lengths adrift at the back.

“I expected him to be outpaced early,” the jockey said afterwards, insisting he was playing it cool, with Appleby listening intently by his side. “I knew if I got behind a horse that would take me into the straight, he would finish off real good. He felt super.”

It was brilliant from Buick and he almost bettered the ride in the day’s finale with Silver Knott after squeezing through the narrowest of gaps on the rail as he made a late challenge. It was Moore’s day, though, by a nose, his double ending a personal Breeders’ Cup drought, for him, that stretched back to Mendelssohn in 2017.

This is only the third time Keeneland has hosted the Breeders’ Cup and their first was in 2015. But there was a retro feel about Future Stars Friday, with Coolmore and Godolphin swinging punches at each other in the Kentucky sun.

O’Brien and Appleby both have five runners here on Saturday. O’Brien’s best chance would be Tuesday in the Filly & Mare Turf, priced up around 13/2. Appleby has two very strong favourites in Modern Games and Nations Pride. There is plenty to play for and it’s not even half-time, but the Europeans have turned up with their big guns – and in style.

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