This year marks the sixth running of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T), which this year is a 5-furlong dash for 2-year-olds of either sex over Santa Anita’s turf course. The distance depends on the host track’s capability to run the distance and in some cases the distance is shortened to five furlongs to accommodate the turf sprinting limitations as it was at Churchill Downs in 2018, Santa Anita in 2019, Del Mar in 2021 and will be again this year.
Morning sunrise during workouts at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California on October 28, 2023, as horses prepare for the 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Carlos J. Calo/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup
This race was run initially in 2018 during the first day of the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs and was ungraded. It was a grade 2 in 2019 and was a Grade 1 for the first time a year ago.
Legacy of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint Champions
In 2018, WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and SF Racing’s Bulletin was a 2 ¾-length winner under the Twin Spires for trainer Todd Pletcher and after one win from five starts in 2019, he returned in 2020 in the care of Steve Asmussen and didn’t hit the board in two starts for the Hall of Famer. He subsequently was exported to Australia, where he raced and finished second in a pair of barrier trials before two unplaced finishes in stakes at Rosehill and Randwick in the care of Gai Waterhouse.
The 2019 winner, Four Wheel Drive, went on the shelf after the Breeders’ Cup and returned with a dismal seventh-place finish in allowance company and stands at stud in Japan. Golden Pal, who won in 2020, is a member of the Ashford Stud stallion roster. Twilight Gleaming was the winner in 2021 and is still racing with some success and last year’s winner, Mischief Magic, won a race earlier this month in his third start since last year’s win.
Irad Ortiz Jr. was the winning pilot aboard Four Wheel Drive in 2019 Golden Pal in 2021 and Twilight Gleaming in 2021, while Javier Castellano guided Bulletin to victory in 2018 and William Buick was in the saddle on Mischief Magic a year ago. Wesley Ward trained both Four Wheel Drive, Golden Pal and Twilight Gleaming while Charlie Appleby was in charge of Mischief Magic a year ago.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
