The season ending championships are finally here to mark the end of the 4th season at SportofKings.us.  We could not be happier with the way things have progressed as we are continuing to see new stables find their way to the winners circle in the top level racing and fuller fields.  

The finals will be held on the 29th and 30th will be two action packed days which will see over 40 championship finals go off.  The juvenile division, as always, will be the most anticipated battles as these horses are finally hitting their stride and looking to lock horns with the best of the best in their respective division.

View the Breeders Cup Championships for Grade 1

View the Breeders Cup Championships for Grade 3

Updates / Notes

There are two new programmed racing series coming online for the 5th season.

The first is the Legends series which will offer a chance for older horses to strut their stuff outside the championship division.


The second series, which was also essential, is a weekly series of maiden and graduation GUARANTEED purse races which will be held for both juvenile and 3+ year olds. This series will be run on a strict distance rotation so there will be regular opportunities for all horses and owners should find full fields in most of these races.

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Grade 3 Breeders Cup Preview

Juveniles

Turf Marathon

This race features a full field of 15 from ten different stables.  The field appears to be a balanced group of two year olds, including a number of maidens that would love for their first trip to

Sussex Montjeu

the winners circle to be at the Breeders Cup.  Logans Run from Precious Stable looks to be the class of the field if you ignore the last two races.  She won those two qualifiers by 24 combined lengths and posted lifetime top speed ratings consecutively.  She has not gotten much of a layoff and picked up additional weight from a win just a week ago in a non championship race.  The sidley stud sends out a Sussex Montjeu, a son of Montjeu, who is another bright eyed competitor but got absolutely thumped in his last race.  It is unclear what happened here but expect him to rebound and be near at the finish.  As far as the maidens go, Crazee Syko posted a very nice work best of six that day over today's distance of  1 1/2m.  He has a real chance to hit the board here.

Turf Super Sprint

This sprint will be contested over 4 furlongs (800m) on what is expected to be a wet, yielding surface.  Precious stable's brings in two horses, each on a two win streak that will look to bring her home a Breeders Cup Trophy.  Chief No Sack and Coolmore are both geldings that have shown a knack for getting to the line first.  Chief No Sack appears to be the better of the two with nearly 5 times the earnings of his stablemate and comes in with back to back wins in qualifiers.  One horse that has caught the eye of many clockers is Thunder Road, a maiden from Micks Heroes who posted a wicked 52 3/5 work , best of seven on Apr 9.  This has yet to show the ability to bring that kind of speed to the track but would be right in contention if he could.  Given the trainers history of getting the best out of his horses I must mention Bob Baffert and his entry, Indian Outlaw who will look to build on the most recent race which was a win in a 4f qualifier.  He managed to keep his nose in front of Indian Outlaw for the entirety of the last race and a repeat might just be good enough to win.

Super Sprint

An overflow field is expected for this one and includes a star in the making with Bull Star from Double Star.  In a slightly unorthodox move the trainer entered the horse in a non championship race and picked up a win , adding an additional two pounds putting him at a high weight of 134 lbs for the final;  those two pounds could prove very costly in such a competitive race.  Ravensdale Rise sends out Raven Mitch, a consistent son of Afleet, who will look to win his first championship caliber race in this loaded field.  He has managed three wins, all of them outside of the championship division however.

3yr Old Division

Turf Classic

Anfield Road's Spankme looks to be the likely favorite coming off a victory at the exact distance and surface condition back on Apr. 7th.  He defeated Carry on Thin Boy in that effort but has finished behind Sussex Miller in every other race.  The distance appears to be a concern for Sussex Miller who appears better suited for the mile or mile and a eight distances.  

Sprint

This is another highly competitive race that will be determined by a thin margin.  It features horses that are familiar with each other and quality trainers across the board.  Unsung Hero

Unsung Hero

comes into this race on five race losing streak but was privately purchased after the last effort by Black Cat Racing and the barn change may do this horse some good.  Long Sermon comes in for Precious Stable with a two race win streak having beaten many of these two races back.  This filly by Pulpit seems to really enjoy the mud and with her deep closing style could sit a good trip here.    I like Unsung Hero in this spot, the problem is that he was defeated by Long Sermon at this exact distance and surface last time out.

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The end of April brings with it the end of a season and that means two things, Breeders Cup and Yearlings!

The qualifiers are all wrapped up and the entrants are just about finalized for the Virtual Breeders Cup Series which will kick off this weekend at 6:00 AM server time.  Every race features a competitive field and some of the juveniles look to really make their mark heading into the three year old campaign.


We are bringing back the $1000 giveaway from now until the beginning of the new season (May 1st). For every $50 deposited you will receive an entry into the pool!  Read More

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The field is getting ready to close on a contentious looking group of three year olds who will compete over a mile on the heavy turf at the Sport of Kings Track.

ML Favorite
#4 Mark Twain 
The most experienced horse in this race returns to the mile trip here and is coming of a lifetime high 100 SR over 6 furlongs.  I can't help but believe he is better suited to the slightly shorter trip but the fans seems to think that speed may hold this time as your short priced 6/5 favorite.

Threats
#6 Sussex Miller
The sidley stud barn has been hot lately and they will be looking to pick off a solid field here when this Danehill filly returns to the track after winning her last at this distance on February 17th.  She may not quite have the speed figures to compete with this group but we will see, expect her explosive turn of foot late.

#2 Ms Clean
Precious Stable brings this filly by Pure Prize to the qualifiers after placing 4th, only 5 lengths back in the last effort.  She has shown the ability to run 1:51 which will put her right there at the wire.  She should be fresh coming in for only her second race of the month and could be a factor, if she gets the setup, with her deep closing style.

#3 Chypmunk Dinner
The other horse from Anfield Road, this gelding out of Danzig has been ultra tough in his last 5 efforts, winning 3 of them and losing the other two by a combined 1.25 lengths.  His owner keeps him on the turf after a solid second last out on February 4th.

# 1 Knivsbjerg 
This gelding looks to carry the flag for Anfield Road and continue his three race wining streak.  The horse could only manage to get to the winners circle three times as a juvenile but has clearly started hitting his best stride after being gelded heading in the breeders cup which he won by two lengths. He will be looking for a stalking trip.

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Today we see a contentious field of 6 prepared to go the mile over soft turf.  The field of six all appears to have a legitimate chance at picking up a piece of this purse with the exception of the unknown Bladerunner.

ML Favorite
#6 Bonsun
This filly out of Monsun is looking to return to her best form that she found over this condition and distance back on January 27th.  She seems to need some pace to close into in order to be successful  and it appears that she will get it from the heavily raced Captain Obvious.  I would think that a repeat of her previous maiden form and a time of 1:51 would be good enough to find her in the winners circle yet again.  This is her third race this month which is taxing for any horse so we will see what kind of toughness she will display in this spot.


Threats
#3 Vital Discussion
This maiden filly by Singspiel looks to be a closing type that will be well positioned here at the back of the field with Bonsun.  West Coast Racing brings her in after a public work clocked at just under 1:54 so she will have to improve a bit off that which she has shown the ability to do with her debut race coming in at a time of 1:52.5.  I don't know if she's good enough to win this short of a race, this early in her career but she shouldn't be too far off at the end.

#1 School Holidays
I like this Halo colt a lot and he looks very well placed here at the mile distance.  He seems to have the ability to rate a bit and should get first jump on the deep closers.  He beat Bonsun in his most recent victory in a game effort on February 16th, 2015.  This should be an excellent rematch  between the two as there is not much to separate them.

#2 Captain Obvious
Ewing Farms enters this Singspiel colt into his 6th lifetime race, a heavy race load, only second to Anfield Road's The New One who will be seeing the track for the 7th time as a two year old.  Captain Obvious has yet to win in a qualifier but has won his two most recent efforts outside of that.  He appears to be a versatile front running sort but may just not have the class to win at the top level.

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This field is shaping up to be a large and good one that will likely help clear up the picture for favoritism in the finals which will be held over a mile and half on April 26, 2015

ML Favorite
#9 Sussex Montjeu
The early favorite appears to be a horse that is facing championship caliber opponents for the first time in sidley stud's Sussex Montjeu.  This colt took three tries to break his maiden but did so in a very impressive fashion at Lingfield.  He got loose on an early lead and kept a decent field at bay winning by an easy 5 lengths.  His score was at a mile and half and he will be stretching out to 1 3/4 for this race which he has tried twice before with no luck.  He draws a favorable post in the 9th spot and should have every chance to clear the field and take the lead early if he doesn't get into trouble at the gate.

Threats
#13 Blue Halo
I feel like the public must know something I don't here as in his only race Blue Halo beat the favorite by three lengths over the same distance but heavy turf.  She posted a wicked speed rating of 111 in that lone effort.  My one reservation is that while she is fast, she didn't improve much from her public work on Jan 8 to her race effort on the 19th, so you can expect the same here.  I believe you can look for her to post a time right around 3:25 and I don't think that's good enough for this group.  She is just a bit of an unknown but the most recent works indicate to me that she is dialed in and ready for this.

#4 Dyna Drill
This undefeated Dynaformer gelding is looking to win his third straight after beginning his career in dramatic fashion, beating the field of a $5 claiming race by 28 lengths.  He returned to the track February 13th to pickup another win in style against a tougher field over a mile and 3/4 of yielding turf.  He looms a threat but you have to say that with such humble beginnings this horse has already out performed expectations and finding himself in the money for this race would be a nice bonus.

#3 Crazee Syko
This Singspiel colt owned by Nemesis Stud and bred by Ember Racing is still looking for his maiden score.  Nemesis purchased the colt for $45 after seeing a public workout on January 8th.  There is no denying the talent this colt has but his running style isn't clear and I am not sure he's up to this level of competition just yet.

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