Saturday’s Experts’ Breeders’ Cup Selection * The Racing Biz

Saturday is championship day with nine Breeders’ Cup races, including the Classic. Three Maryland-bred horses are among the hopefuls, including one, Seismic Beauty, the 9-5 favorite in the Distaff.

After a big Friday full of baby racing, Saturday is the main event, and we asked our experts for their picks.

This is what they came up with:

BREEDER’S CUP AIRPLANE AND MARE SPRINT

Sweet Azteca, 7-for-9 in her career, is the 2-1 favorite in the morning line, but our ‘cappers believe the correct answer is #8 Hope Road (4-1), impressive winner of the G1 Ballerina last out. Four of them have her at the top, and a fifth has her second… The field includes the Maryland-bred #2 Splendora (8-1), winner of two straight, and 2023 Charles Town Oaks winner #3 Vahva (12-1)…

BREEDER’S CUP TURF SPRINT

#1 Motorious is declared the favorite of the 7-2 morning line, but our ‘cappers’ are having none of it. The six of them land at the top on four different horses, and none of them pick Motorious, who finished fifth in this race a year ago… Two horses – #3 Arizona Blaze (5-1), winner of Group 1 in Ireland, and #6 Governor Sam (15-1), third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint – earn two top picks here, while #7 She’s Quality (20-1), multiple Group seeded in Europe, and #10 Shisospicy (6-1), 4-for-5 on the turf, taking one each…

BREEDER’S CUP SPRINT

#10 Bentornato (5-2), second in this race a year ago, is the morning line favorite, but has made just one start since that effort, and our ‘cappers’ tend to look elsewhere. In fact, they land on six different horses at the top, including one landing on defending champion #12 Straight No Chaser (8-1), making his second start since early April… The race features some familiar faces to Mid-Atlantic racing folks: this year’s Charles Town Classic winner #2 Banishing (15-1); #4 Patriot Spirit (30-1), winner of the Reigh Count at Colonial Downs this summer; and the last two winners of the Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx in Bentornato (2024) and 2025 champion #13 Mad House (30-1)…

BREEDER’S CUP GAME

The Maryland-bred #8 Seismic Beauty (8-5) is the morning line favorite and has won three in a row and four of seven overall, but most of our cappers are looking elsewhere… Four of them land on #12 Dorth Vader (5-1), winner of the G1 Ogden Phipps earlier this year, and another picks the 2024 G2 Black-Eyed Susan winner #10 Gun Song (30-1)… Also here: #3 Clicquot (10-1), winner of the G1 Cotillion; #9 Majestic Oops (30-1), winner of Lady’s Secret at Monmouth in June; Cathryn Sophia winner #11 Dry Powder (20-1), who finished second in the Cotillion; and #13 Regaled (30-1), dominant winner of the G3 Delaware Handicap last…

BREEDER’S CUP PEAT

The turf races generally run through the European horses, and this one seems no different… Look for defending champion No. 1 Rebel’s Romance (5-2) and No. 8 Minnie Hauk (8-5), the 3-year-old filly who finished second with a lead in the Group 1 L’Arc de Triomphe against older men, to command most of the betting public’s attention…

BREEDER’S CUP CLASSIC

The scratch of morning line favorite Sovereignty opens this race quite nicely, and our ‘cappers respond accordingly, picking five different horses at the top… #5 Forever Young (6-1), the Japanese-bred who finished third in this race a year ago a few months after a near-miss third in the Kentucky Derby, is the only rider to have two ‘cappers pick him at the top… The Maryland-bred #8 Mindframe (10-1) carries Midlantic hope… The race also includes defending champion #7 Sierra Leone (8-1) and a pair we’ve seen in the Mid-Atlantic in this year’s Pennsylvania Derby winner #2 Baeza (15-1) and Preakness and Haskell champion #9 Journalism (10-1)…

BREEDER’S CUP MILE

Back to the grass for the Mile and a race that sees the return of last year’s #7 Johannes (8-1) and show horse #2 Notable Speech (5-2), with the latter the morning line favorite… Trainer Graham Motion’s South African connection gives him #1 One Stripe (30-1), whose North American bow was a lackluster fifth in the G1 Woodbine Mile… #5 Program Trading (10-1), beaten favorite in the ’23 Grade 3 Virginia Derby, will Bringing Flavien Prat for trainer Chad Brown…

BREEDER’S CUP DIRT MILE

Defending champion #6 Full Serrano (7-2) is looking for a repeat, but he will have to face the talented #3 Nysos (8-5), Bob Baffert’s trainee whose only defeat, by neck-and-neck, came to Mindframe at the Grade 1 Churchill Downs after a 15-month layoff… #9 Touch of Destiny (20-1) is an intriguing bet, having picked up six easy wins in Uruguay to start his career…

BREEDER’S CUP MEUILLY AND MARE TURF

A controversial group of distaffers close the map in a race that’s a bit of a puzzle: most of these alternate good and bad outings… #5 Gezora (7-2) gets the nod as favorite in the morning line, but our ‘cappers’ look elsewhere, with three of them landing at #9 Cinderella’s Dream (9-2), a fast-closing second in this race a year ago, and two others at #6 Diamond Rain (6-1), a group winner at Newcastle two back…