Breeders’ Cup Distaff Preview: The Ladies Steal the Show

Top Choice

#5 Stellar Wind – After seven weeks of having Songbird on top in this spot I’ve made a last second change to Stellar Wind, and honestly I fell great about it.  There are so many signs that point to Stellar Wind winning this race with the main one being pretty simple…she’s ran faster races than her competition!  She’s also defeated a tremendous filly in Beholder two straight times now.  Many believe Beholder is slowing down, but take a look at her speed figures as they tell a different story.  She ran two of her fastest figures ever in defeat to Stellar Wind.  Last year I picked Stellar Wind in this same race and she broke my heart finishing a close second.  This year it’s redemption time for her…and for me!

Horses to Use in Multi Race Wagers

#1 Songbird – It’s almost painful to not make her my top pick here after having her on top for seven weeks leading up to the Breeders’ Cup.  So why the last second change?  It’s not a knock on Songbird…it’s just a big boost of confidence in Stellar Wind.  Songbird obviously has done very little if anything wrong throughout her entire career, but the competition she’ll face in this spot far exceeds anything she’s ever been up against by a wide margin.  Having two quality fillies like Stellar Wind and Beholder might be just a little too much for an untested younger filly like Songbird to handle.  She’ll also have to run faster than she ever has before.  This is something she might be able to accomplish (American Pharoah did it last year) however I’m taking the experience route and putting Stellar Wind on top.

#8 Beholder – Everyone seems to think her best days are behind her, but everyone needs to seriously reexamine that line of thinking.  The fact is her speed figures are better than ever, and if you take out Stellar Wind from her recent races against fillies she’s beating the rest of her competition by multiple lengths.  Also, lets take the Pacific Classic as another perfect example.  That days she was no match for California Chrome, however she defeated Dortmund who everyone is in love with as well as Hoppertunity who came back to win the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in his next start.  This does not look like a horse on the decline at all to me.  I have to pick Stellar Wind ahead of her because of the two recent races they ran together where Stellar Wind defeated her, but Beholder will be on all of my exotic tickets as it will be no surprise to me at all if she wins this race.

Exotic Plays

#6 Forever Unbridled – Very logical horse to use underneath in this spot just incase one of the big three fail to fire with their best efforts.  You can bet Forever Unbridled with confidence because she’ll show up with a solid run as she basically runs the same race every single time.  She’s done absolutely nothing wrong in all of her starts in 2016…but is she good enough to run with the top 3?  Probably not, but if she can get some pace to run at she might be hard to hold off for the minor awards.

Party Crashers

#3 Curalina – Which Curalina will show up for this one?  At times this year she’s ran races that could at least be competitive with the top bunch in this race, but also at times she’s looked average.  I’m not a huge fan of long layoffs heading into the Breeders’ Cup, but in her case it might be ok as she’s ran some stellar races off of long breaks.  Hoping she can put it all together or she’ll be beaten several lengths.

Throw Outs

#4 Corona Del Inca – She’s a major unknown as this will be her first race in the United States.  Extremely tough task for her to tackle in this spot.

#7 I’m a Chatterbox – It’s tough to throw a horse like this out because she’s running so well right now, and her talent level is very high.  However, against this type of competition its very hard to see her making much noise.  Still a quality filly for sure.

#2 Land Over Sea – Will be the longest shot on the board, and rightfully so as she’s badly outclassed in this spot.  Will have to improve several lengths to make an impact.