Well, not a full recap; rather just a few stray observations regarding the two day event, with the hope that some of this information may prove useful next year.
For example, of the fifteen Breeders' Cup winners on Friday and Saturday, four were favorites:
Royal Delta (1.7-1) - BC Ladies' Classic
Groupie Doll (0.7-1) - BC Filly & Mare Sprint
Shanghai Bobby (1.3-1) - BC Juvenile
Wise Dan (1.8-1) - BC Mile
If you expect favorites to win about a third of the time, then those numbers are about right, being just one winner shy of 33.33%.
Only two jockeys had multiple Breeders' Cup wins this year: Rajiv Maragh and Mike Smith, each with two. Smith's two victories make him the all-time leader among jockeys with seventeen BC wins. In addition, Smith was also the winner of the Bill Shoemaker Award for being the outstanding jockey of this year's Breeders' Cup.
There was a great deal of speculation over the two days as to whether or not Trainer Bill Mott would be able to repeat his 2011 sweep of the BC Ladies' Classic / BC Classic Double. He would not; for while Royal Delta once again won the Ladies' Classic, that would be Mott's only victory over the two days. In fact, no trainer was able to notch two victories in this year's Breeders' Cup races, as each of the fifteen events featured a different trainer in the winner's circle, none of whom was Bob Baffert.
Nine of the fifteen BC races (60%) were won by horses that had lost their last time out; four of those nine having finished out of the money. This group includes the D Wayne Lukas-trained Hightail, the first maiden to win a Breeders' Cup race.
Of the nine BC races run on the dirt, only two were won by horses that had previously raced over the Santa Anita main track: the BC Juvenile Fillies (won by Beholder) and the BC Dirt Mile (won by Tapizar). Of the six turf races, only one, the BC Turf Sprint, was won by a horse (Mizdirection) that had previously raced over the Santa Anita grass. So twelve of the fifteen Breeders' Cup races (80%) were won by horses making their debut on either the Santa Anita main track or the Santa Anita turf. So much for the "horse for the course" angle.
My personal winner for most shocking 2012 Breeders' Cup moment was Little Mike winning the BC Turf. It's not so much that he won; for, while his final odds were 17.3-1, he was a multi-time graded stakes winner, and therefore certainly belonged with this field; it's that Little Mike won by coming from behind. I'd never thought that I would see Little Mike win a race where he did not lead wire-to-wire. I was, obviously, mistaken.
As regards my handicapping, while Day 2 was certainly an improvement over Day 1, I still ended up writing the overall net results in red ink. While disappointing, I can't call the results upsetting; after all, the Breeders' Cup events are the most difficult group of races of the year to handicap; so losses are to be expected. I am, however, annoyed at one large error I made in my placement of wagers. On Day 2, I had a saver wager of $2 across on Trinniberg at 13.7-1 in the BC Sprint (YAH!); I had the Late Double of Wise Dan and Fort Larned (an $18 Ticket of 2, 6, 9 / 1, 4, 5 that paid $55.80; again YAH!) along with $10 across on Fort Larned at 9.4-1 (YAH!); but for God only knows what reason, I had no part of the Trinniberg / Wise Dan / Fort Larned Pick 3 that paid $210.05 for fifty cents. I guess I could blame fatigue; but, man, what a total brain fart.
Oh well; onto the next race.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
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