William Hill rates defending champ Zenyatta and Preakness and Haskell winner Lookin At Lucky as 4-1 co-favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Classic as the British bookmakers opened for Cup business on Tuesday. Hill offers Whitney winner Blame at 6-1, with Whitney runner-up Quality Road at 8-1, followed by Travers one-two Afleet Express and Fly Down both at 12-1 along with Rachel Alexandra.
Fame and Glory, the firm’s current Arc favorite at 3-1, is also its Breeders’ Cup Turf favorite at 7-2. Dar Re Mi and Gio Ponti can be had in the Turf for 7-1, with Arlington Million winner Debussy 8-1 and the trio of Prince of Wales’s winner Byword, Epsom Derby winner Workforce and last year’s Turf fourth Spanish Moon all at 10-1.
Two-time defending Breeders’ Cup Mile titleholder Goldikova is the 2-1 favorite to make it three straight. The 10-time Group 1 winner is followed in the betting by the horse that beat her in the Prix Jacques Le Marois, Makfi, at 4-1. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Rip Van Winkle is pegged at 5-1 with his sprinting stablemate Starspangledbanner at 7-1 and Paco Boy at 8-1. Gio Ponti and Sidney’s Candy are the lowest priced American trainees for the Mile, both at 12-1.
Midday is Hill’s 7-4 favorite to repeat in the Filly and Mare Turf with last year’s third-place finisher Forever Together a distant 7-1 second favorite. Proviso, highly adept between a mile and 1 1/8 miles in America, but a listed winner in France going 1 3/16 miles, is available at 8-1 in a race that will be run at 1 3/8 miles at Churchill Downs this year. Stacelita is also is on offer at 8-1, but her trainer Jean-Claude Rouget said after her Prix Jean Romanet victory last week that she would run in Woodbine’s E.P. Taylor instead.
Alfred Vanderbilt winner Majesticperfection is Hill’s 4-1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint favorite, with King’s Bishop winner Discreetly Mine at 6-1. Vineyard Haven, who returned from an eight-month layoff with a victory at Saratoga on July 23, is 7-1, with Vanderbilt runner-up Big Drama 8-1.
