OTB Breeders' Cup Juvenile

The fifth race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita Park is the $2,000,000 Juvenile, with 14 horses expected to go to the gate for the 1 1/16 miles run over the Santa Anita dirt track.  Several of the two-year-olds in the race have met recently in their final preps, and the race – as is often the case with young horses – will be a tough one for handicappers. None of the horses have more than four races under their saddle, and Tap It Rich (at 6-1 on the morning line) will be making only his second lifetime start.

Morning line favorite might not get the distance

The ML favorite at 5-2 is Havana, who broke his maiden first time out at Saratoga in August, and followed that with a win in the Grade I Champagne Stakes at Belmont. The concern for Havana might be that while he was able to open by as many as four lengths on the field in that one, he gave most of that away down the stretch to only prevail by a neck over Honor Code, who isn’t running in the Breeders’ Cup. Since that race was run at a mile, there’s some question as to whether Havana can stay for the extra one-sixteenth required here.

Bond Holder looking for a pace to run at

Co-second choice at 6-1 are Tap It Rich and Strong Mandate. Strong Mandate looked like a lock for this after a 9 3/4 length win in the Grade I Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga in early September, but he faltered badly in the Champagne, finishing seventh. He’ll also have to overcome the #14 post. Making a late charge will likely be Bond Holder, who did just that at Santa Anita last start out to win the Frontrunner Stakes at the Juvenile distance by 2 1/4 lengths, in a race that featured extremely slow late fractions, something that might not occur on Saturday.

Post time for the 2013 Breeders' Cup Juvenile is 2:43 PM PDT.