When the 2005 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships take place on October 29, Saturday, champion horses from all over North America and as far as Europe and Japan will be pitted against one another. Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, which has the world's biggest dirt race course of any thoroughbred track, will play host to eight major races on a single championship day card: Breeders' Cup Classic, Distaff, Filly & Mare Turf, Juvenile, Juvenile Fillies, Mile, Sprint, Turf. Breeders' Cup Turf race and pace analysis point to strong contenders being Alkaased, Azamour (Ireland), Better Talk Now, Bago (France), Cool Conductor, Electrocutionist, English Channel, Forty Niners Son, Good Reward, Hurricane Run (Ireland), Kitten's Joy, King's Drama (Ireland), Motivator (Great Britain), Oratorio (Ireland), Powerscourt (Great Britain), and Scorpion (Ireland).
The Breeders' Cup Turf will begin with race contenders vying for speed spots, if there is the presence of early speed stalkers. Competing horses whose only shot at winning is to wire it will precisely race to the front and attempt to hold it. They can be dangerous loose on the lead, especially if the race track is less than firm. But in this race, speedsters would do well not to take the lead in the early going. Powerscourt, who finished third in the 2004 Turf, had high speed scores but was not the early speed type. He broke poorly and was unhurried early, opened a clear advantage on the far turn, and weakened under pressure on the final eighth.
Kitten's Joy runs the kind of patient, stalking style that is lethal in turf races. Boasting very comfortable margins of victory over some very talented fields no tougher than the Turf, he had deservingly earned the shortest morning line odds of any favorite on last year's race day. He raced well, starting well placed slightly off the rail along the backstretch before making a run along the inside to threaten in the upper stretch. Unfortunately, he was no match for the winning longshot. Better Talk Now, who won the 2004 Turf, returns this year as defending champion and will once again face Kitten's Joy, who was the 2004 Turf runnerup.
2020 Breeders Cup Report
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