With just 60 days to go before the 2018 Breeders’ Cup World Championships the entries for the contenders of each race are filing up fast. While the BC races take place in America and Canada, we have entries from all over the world. 85 Challenge Series races held in 12 countries help to define the field of each race. The 35th year of BC races will be hosted by Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY on November 2nd and 3rd. Several of the entries in the 14 BC races are contenders that were bred or live abroad. BC18 welcomes the world!
BC18 races will take place at the Home of the Kentucky Derby. In recent years the KY Derby has made a big effort to attract contenders from Japan and Europe. As one would imagine, with travel expenses, weather related issues, quarantines and more, it is not easy to ship to KY for horses who live in or predominately race overseas. So far, the 2 year effort to gather a Japanese contender and this year’s effort to race a European Thoroughbred in the KY Derby did not result in an entry. That is one reason I was particularly please to see Japan bred, Yoshida, win yesterday’s Woodward Stakes. Though it is not for an automatic berth into the BC Classic, this race and Yoshida’s previous history make him a likely choice for the Classic. Yoshida was bought by WinStar Farm in KY as a yearling and he has predominately raced in America. Yoshida’s Japanese breeding comes with American and Japanese Thoroughbreds in his pedigree. Yoshida did race and win on the KY Derby Day card. He won the Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes. Here are some other foreign bred horses that are contenders in BC18 with the race they may enter.
- Argentina: Blue Prize (BC Longines Distaff), La Extrana Dama (BC Longines Turf or BC Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf))
- Chile: Robert Bruce (BC Longines Turf)
- France: Suedois (BC Mile)
- Great Britain: Alpha Delphini (BC Turf Sprint), Arthur Kitt (BC Juvenile Turf), Belvoir Bay (BC Turf Sprint), Crystal Ocean (BC Longines Turf), Coronet (BC Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf), Havana Grey (BC Turd Sprint), Enable (BC Longines Turf), Expert Eye (BC Mile), Fashion Business (BC Longines Turf), Life Of Riley (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Lightening Spear (BC Mile), Pretty Pollyanna (BC Juvenile Fillies Turf), Soldier’s Call (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Talismanic (BC Longines Turf), True Mason (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Well Done Fox (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Wild Illusion (BC Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf), With You (BC Mile or BC Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf)
- Ireland: Alpha Centauri (BC Mile), Beyond Reason (BC Juvenile Fillies Turf), Blue Point (BC Turf Sprint), Comedy (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Eziyra (BC Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf), Fairyland (BC Juvenile Fillies Turf or BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Glorious Empire (BC Longines Turf), Hunt (BC Mile), Landforce (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Masaff (BC Sentient Jet Juvenile), Newspaperofrecord (BC Juvenile Fillies Turf), Poet’s Word (BC Longines Turf), Quiet Endeavour (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Rumble Inthejungle (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Shumookhi (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Study Of Man (BC Longines Turf), Signora Cabello (BC Juvenile Turf Sprint), Sister Charlie (BC Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf), Ten Sovereigns (BC Juvenile Turf), Thunder Snow (BC Classic)
Moreover, many horses that have won foreign BC berth races are actually American bred. It is fascinating that so many horses that start right in my hometown race and breed all over the earth.
While many American’s rest up today on Labor Day, myself and many others will continue to labor. We can all be extra thankful for the Thoroughbreds and the connections that work so hard year round and world wide to create and develop the champions we love to watch race! Enjoy our all American holiday and keep checking back over these 60 days as BC18 gets ever so closer!
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