2007 Breeders' Cup Betting - Juvenile Scenarios Read Like The Young and the Restless

Three Breeders'Cup races for 2-year-olds read like episodes of my wife's favorite TV soap opera: The Young and the Restless.

The inaugural Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf at a mile on Oct. 26 for runners no matter their gender is somewhat of a mystery. First, it appears there's no clear-cut early favorite.

While quite a few candidates recently won, many leading contenders lack points earned by top three finishes in U.S. graded stakes, which will determine half of the 12-horse field automatically gets in.

Then the Breeders Cup selection committee determines which six horses deserve to start and who makes the alternates list. Complicating matters is a fairly large contingent of foreign invaders.

Sitting in the catbird's seat is Old Man Buck, who hit the board four consecutive times at longer distances. The well-bred son of Hold That Tiger has back-to-back victories on the grass, including the Cradle Stakes at River Downs on Sept. 3.He ran third in the Grade 1 Lane's End Breeders'Futurity at Keeneland at 1 1/16 miles on the Polytrack Oct. 6 despite being carried extremely wide. The winning Wicked Style automatically qualified for the BC Juvenile on Oct. 27.

War Pass also earned a berth in the Juvenile with a victory in the Champagne at Belmont over the one-two finishers in the Hopeful. However, only two winners of the Champagne went on to take the Juvenile: Fly So Free in 1990 and Timber Country in '94.

Trainer Nick Zito hopes War Pass gives him his first Juvenile championship in five tries. Two of Zito's Champagne winners didn't run: Greenwood Lake and Birdstone. Those that did failed to hit the board: The Groom Is Red, sixth, and A P Valentine, fourth.

The Juvenile Fillies has several contenders that recently finished in the money in preps. A to the Croft has a case of seconditis, but trainer Ken McPeek says,"She's a filly with a lot of class so you've got to give her a chance."

A to the Croft was runner-up in the Spinaway, Adirondack and the Alcibiades, which was won by Country Star. Her trainer Bobby Frankel said,"I think it's a task." That's because Country Star broke her maiden.

Bob Baffert has a pair of fillies coming off victories: Indian Blessing in the Frizette and Cry and Catch Me in the Oak Leaf.