Breeders' Cup Sprint

Introduction

When it comes to sheer speed and adrenaline, few races can rival the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. As one of the original seven races of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships inaugurated in 1984, the Sprint has been an electrifying display of speed and raw power for forty years and counting. This Grade 1 event consistently brings together the fastest horses over a dirt surface but pure speed must be allied to gritty resolution, making the Breeders’ Cup Sprint the quintessential race for dirt dashers to prove their mettle.

Breeders’ Cup Sprint History

The Breeders’ Cup Sprint was conceptualized as part of the Breeders’ Cup initiative to crown year-end champions in various racing categories. The Sprint quickly became the decisive factor in determining the Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter, elevating it to one of the most important sprint races in North America. With a purse of $2 million, the financial stakes are as high as the reputational ones.

The Sprint is open to horses aged three years and older and is contested over a distance of six furlongs on a dirt track, making it a true test of horses’ speed and jockeys’ tactical acumen.

2024 Breeders’ Cup Sprint Challenge Series Races

Breeders’ Cup Sprint Trends

• 2007+, the BC Sprint winners came into the race with a combined 110/214 lifetime win record (51.4%)
• 31 of last 32 winners had at least 50% 1-2 strike rate at 6f (’22 winner 1/3 at 6f)
• 37/40 won a G1-3 that season (’21 winner closing neck 2nd in G2 LTO)
• 1+ 6f wins AND ran sharp 7f last 12 months a solid recent angle (’22 & ’23 winners nailed this)
• 24 of last 31 had 2+ 6f wins that season
• 16 of last 26 winners were 50%+ lifetime winners
• 16 of last 20 winners had 6 or fewer seasonal starts
• 22 of last 30 winners showed a bullet workout
• 29 of last 32 winners notched at least 103 Beyer in same season (’21 winner 102, ’22 winner 101)
• Bob Baffert 5 wins, Bill Mott 2, Peter Miller 2
• 3 back to back winners since 2007/8 (Midnight Lute, Roy H, Elite Power)

How The Runners Fit

Breeders’ Cup Sprint Pace

There is a LOT of early pace here, with no fewer than seven horses having led at the first call in two or more of their last four races! Raging Torrent has the inside post but perhaps isn’t as quick as the likes of Federal Judge in 3 or Bentornato in 6, while Straight No Chaser in 8 and Skelly in 11 have led in all of their most recent four starts. If it’s a closer you’re after – and while speed is usually the play on Del Mar dirt, this could melt down – then Nakatomi and Remake are your men.

Key Trials

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2024 Sprint Trends Contenders

Remake, Skelly

2024 Breeders’ Cup Sprint Form Preview

The Sprint is always a fast race but this year’s looks like they’ll be crawling home after electric early fractions. There is pace everywhere!

Drawn on the inside is Raging Torrent, winner of the G2 Pat O’Brien over 7f here when last seen. He was strongly pressed by the ante post favourite for this, The Chosen Vron (subsequently scratched by the vets), but turned him away close home. That grittiness and ability to stay an extra furlong could be important the way the Sprint looks to pan out but whether he’s quite quick enough is another question. He’d previously won over seven furlongs by nearly three lengths in a Stakes race, and by more than eight lengths in an allowance contest. His speed figures fit, but this will be faster early and less easy to dominate.

In 2 is Gun Pilot, a son of Gun Runner (natch) trained by Steve Asmussen. He’s two from three at six furlongs, both wins coming in allowance company and the runner up spot in a minor stakes. He did win a Grade 1 at 7f in May but has been beaten at around that trip on two subsequent starts. He’s well drawn for a drafting trip but doesn’t look as good as a few of these.

The lightly raced Federal Judge is in 3. Trained by Brad Cox, he blew his field apart in the G2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix setting a new track record when making all from stall 1. He almost certainly benefited from a strong rail bias that day but, regardless, it’s a very strong piece of form. The niggles are that he was uncontested on the lead there and will not be here, and off a clear career best he might ‘bounce’. Still, he’d jumped forward from his penultimate run to that G2 romp and is less exposed than his rivals, so might take another stride forward. Could get to the rail given presumed slower horses inside him.

Nakatomi, drawn 4, was a long second to Federal Judge in that Keeneland race, never sighted before staying on up the rail past beaten horses. He was a two length third in the BC Sprint last year and had won the Alfred G Vanderbilt, a Saratoga Grade 1, prior to running up to the Judge. On that occasion he chased down the loose leader in the straight and his run style fits for a repeat bid of that nature here.

Trap 5 houses the enormous Don Frankie, who apparently weighed in at 1335lb before his most recent race! That was an all the way win in the Cluster Cup, where he was all out to hold a closer – and, though I haven’t seen the sectionals, he didn’t look to have the early dash of a couple of these (but that might be wrong – caveat emptor).  He’d previously been a well beaten second in Dubai where he had Nakatomi a place back in third. He might be a difficult obstacle to navigate for horses drawn on his outside…

…the first of which is Florida speedster Bentornato. He won four on the bounce at the start of his career last year, all at Gulfstream Park, before finding an extended mile beyond his range. He was then a fine third over a mile in Saudi Arabia behind Classic-bound Forever Young before a comback second after a six month break. Most recently, he just got the better of a gate to wire duel in the G2 Gallant Bob at Parx, showing tenacity as well as speed. He’s three from three at the distance and that ability to stay further than six furlongs will be important; the question is whether he can lay up with the quickest of these – and indeed whether he needs to.

The second Japanese in the field, Meta Max, exits gate 7. He won his latest start in a minor stakes race and has a best piece of form of 3rd in a Grade 3. Given he’s had 14 races that level doesn’t look good enough for a seriously deep Grade 1. He is a late runner, though, so has the chance to pass some of the wilters.

In 8 is Straight No Chaser, a very fast horse early and possibly ‘the speed of the speed’. He’s led at the first call in eight of his nine races, and winning five of them, most recently in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. He blitzed his field by six lengths there but nothing of the calibre of today’s rivals showed up that day and, even given his electric early, he might have a job clearing horses inside him.

Stall 9 houses the third of the three Japanese runners, the experienced and classy Remake. One of the few patiently ridden runners, he was last seen defending his Korea Sprint title in Seoul in what might have been a dress rehearsal for a speed-loaded BC Sprint. In Korea, he bided his time seven or so lengths from the front before catching the tiring speedsters and stretching away close home. He was behind Don Frankie and Nakatomi in Dubai earlier in the year when his run flattened out late on, though he was a little tight for room up the rail. Prior to that, Remake had stalked and pounced in the Saudi Dirt Sprint, turning away Skelly in the final 50 yards.

Mullikin is in 10, a slightly more versatile speedster who has led in two of his most recent four but won when stalking the pace in the other two. His all the way win last time in the Forego was a career best, Gun Pilot six back in second. That was seven furlongs though, as were his two previous runs in a four race win streak before this gig. I expect he’ll be dropped in against this group and will make his bid late.

Widest of all is Skelly in 11. This horses has an unbelievably consistent profile: his full form string reads 212021111111211222. That record includes second to Remake in the Saudi race and silvers also on his last three dances, including behind Nakatomi in that Saratoga G1; and the sole defeat was on a sloppy track. He’s led in 13 of his last 14 races (!) but is going to struggle to make it 14 from 15 given his outside post. That said, he’s twice gone sub-21.5 opening quarters including a ridiculous 21.34 in a stakes win four back. The bananas thing is that when recording the 21.34 and another time with a 21.52 he missed the kick half a beat; and he did the same in the G1. But within a couple of strides he’s accelerating at a rate rarely seen. It’s going to be very tough to maintain his momentum into the final furlong but he’ll be a lot of fun to watch.

2024 Breeders’ Cup Sprint Form Contenders

This is just going to be crazy fast early. Straight No Chaser and Skelly both have difficult draws and both are rattling quick from the stalls; but they have four speed horses inside them, meaning a) it’ll be tough to get the lead – for all six of those, and b) some of them may suffer wide trips as a result.

I loved Federal Judge’s last day win despite the presumed assistance from the track, and his trainer Brad Cox has few peers in the game. He’d be a great ante post result for me but will need to hold his position early and find resilience against the late runners to score.

In that closing rank are expected to be Nakatomi and Remake and I slightly favour the Japanese horse. Both that pair are 10/1. Mullikin could also close on this occasion and, while he’s respected, he’s pretty short at around 6/1 for my money.

This’ll be a fun watch but is almost impossible to call – Fed Judge please, with Remake closing, thank you.

Breeders’ Cup Sprint Results

Key: PP – post position; RS – run style (lengths behind leader: 4 <½L, 3 ½L- 1½L, 2 1¾L – 3½L, 1 > 3½L); Odds – return for a 1 unit stake; SR – Equibase speed figure

Noteworthy Breeders’ Cup Sprint Winners

Precisionist (1985)

Precisionist, primarily known for his route prowess, was versatile and durable enough to run at four of the first five Breeders’ Cups through the mid-1980’s, but it was in 1985 that he achieved his win, sprinting to a decisive near two length victory under Chris McCarron for trainer Leland Ross Fenstermaker. In 2003, Precisionist was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame.

Midnight Lute (2007, 2008)

Trained by Bob Baffert, Midnight Lute became the first of only two horses to win consecutive editions of the Sprint, stamping his authority over the sprinting division.

Amazombie (2011)

Amazombie’s 2011 victory was a testament to tenacity, as he waited behind a searing early tempo before fighting off multiple challenges to win under Mike Smith in a thrilling finish from the trailblazing Force Freeze.

Mitole (2019)

Mitole’s victory in 2019 capped off a sensational season and helped secure his Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter. In the race, he sat uncharacteristically off the early dash before making his move entering the straight and mastering the gallant Shancelot deep in the final furlong.