2024 Breeders’ Cup Brights: Euros on Parade at Del Mar

Carl Spackler draws outside post 12 for Mile; BC on TV

Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien’s entourage made their first appearance on the Del Mar track the other morning with the usual eye-catching parade led by Luxembourg (Breeders’ Cup Turf), followed by Breeders’ Cup Classic morning-line favorite City of Troy, and nine others.

2024 Breeders’ Cup : European Contenders Hit Del Mar Track

In single file, the horses (the Euro contingent cleared quarantine late Monday) went through their first-day routine of walking and having a light canter around the track.

After the exercise on Tuesday, one of O’Brien’s horses, Ylang Ylang, was scratched out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“It’s great to be back at the Breeders’ Cup and Del Mar,” O’Brien said. “It’s always an event we all very much look forward to each year. I feel we’ve got a strong team of horses and we’re very happy with how they’ve traveled.”

As for City of Troy, the European 2-year-old champion with six wins in seven career starts, O’Brien is confident he finally has the horse who can win the  Breeders’ Cup Classic (he’s 0-for-17 in the race but has 18 Breeders’ Cup  victories overall).

“We’ve made no secret that City of Troy will go forward. Everything is done ahead of his run, and we think we’ve looked under every stone,’’ O’Brien said. “We think we’ve done everything we can, so we’ll leave it up to (jockey) Ryan (Moore) to make his own decisions. This has been the dream to come here, and we feel he’s a horse who handles grass and will handle the dirt.”

Rachel Richardson, City of Troy’s work rider, said: “He felt great, so I’m delighted. He didn’t seem to mind the dirt but obviously we only did very light exercise. He seems to have traveled and settled in well so couldn’t be happier at this stage.”

Carl Spackler draws unfavorable outside post 12 for Breeders’ Cup Mile

The post-position draw for the Breeders’ Cup Mile did not go well for Carl Spackler, the top American challenger to a race dominated by Europeans.

Winner of three straight, most recently the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 5, Carl Spackler drew the outside post 12. He’s 6-1 on the morning-line for trainer Chad Brown.

“The draw will be very challenging. He drew the worst of all my horses,’’ Brown said of Monday’s post-position draw. He added that his other entries drew well based on track configuration for their races, but of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, he says “On the turf, you guys know, you’re on the inside track, the turns are tighter and there’s less room to get your spot.

“The one thing he has going for him is he has good gate speed. You’re going to have to use a little fuel there. (Jockey) Tyler (Gaffalione) knows the horse so well and he does prefer to be on the lead or in the clear, so that part we should be able to get to. It’s just a matter of how much ground he’s going to lose in a race where he’s going to have to run his very, very best figure.”

England’s Notable Speech is the 7-2 favorite with Ireland’s Porta Fortuna next at 4-1.

Breeders’ Cup on TV

NBC Sports will provide 12 hours of live coverage from the 41^st Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar. The $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), featuring an international showdown that includes America’s Fierceness, England-based City of Troy, and Japan’s Forever Young, will air on NBC and Peacock beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Post time for the Classic is 5:41 p.m.

Live coverage begins Friday at 4 p.m. on USA Network and Peacock. There are five BC races on Friday, all for 2-year-olds.

More than six hours of coverage Saturday begins at 2 p.m. on USA Network and Peacock and continues on NBC and Peacock at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Saturday coverage continues on USA Network and Peacock at 6 p.m., and continues on Peacock at 8 p.m. Post time for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), the final race of the day, is 8:25 p.m.