Top horses in the Classic division will take center stage this weekend in two outstanding "Breeders' Cup Challenge Series" programs, featuring the $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC from Saratoga Race Track in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN from Del Mar, outside San Diego, Calif.
The Travers and the Pacific Classic will be the sixth and seventh shows, respectively, of 11 programs in
The Challenge Series leading to the Breeders' Cup World Championships on
NBC and NBCSN, October 31-November 1 from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Saturday's Travers broadcast of "Summer at Saratoga: Breeders' Cup Challenge Series," will be hosted by Tom Hammond, who will be joined by analysts Randy Moss and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, analyst/handicapper Bob Neumeier and reporters Donna Brothers and Eddie Olczyk.
The $500,000 Ballerina, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint for 3-years-old and up at 7 furlongs, will also be televised live on Saturday's "Summer at Saratoga" program.
Following the Travers Stakes and the Ballerina, Moss and Bailey will go coast-to-coast, traveling to San Diego for the TVG Pacific Classic on
NBCSN Sunday, and will be joined by host Laffit Pincay III, and reporters Jay Privman and Kenny Rice.
The Travers, the 1 ¼-mile Mid-Summer Derby which debuted in 1864 and is one of the oldest stakes races for 3-year-olds in the country, has drawn 10 horses, including several of the East Coast's best, but it's the speedy Bayern, from California, trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who is the 2-1 morning line favorite.
Bayern has already earned an automatic bid into the Classic off his rousing 7 ¼-length win in Monmouth Park's "Win in You're In" William Hill Haskell in his last start July 26 on NBC. Bayern answered any lingering distance questions when he blitzed a field that included superstar 3-year-old filly Untapable to move his lifetime record to 4-for-7. Bayern, ridden by Martin Garcia, will try the 1 ¼ mile distance for the first time and looms the one to catch and beat.
Robert Evans' Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, who denied California Chrome the Triple Crown, is the second choice at 3-1 for trainer Christophe Clement. Tonalist, who also won the Peter Pan at Belmont Park, has won three of his five career starts. In the 1 ? mile Jim Dandy Stakes on July 26 at Saratoga, his first race back after the Belmont, Tonalist, ridden by Joel Rosario, finished second by 2 ¾ lengths to Wicked Strong, the 7-2 third choice in the Travers. Wicked Strong, trained by Jimmy Jerkens and ridden by Rajiv Maraj, was a fast closing fourth in the Kentucky Derby and was fourth in the Belmont, but was much sharper in the Jim Dandy, staying on the pace early and easily holding off Tonalist.
Hall of Fame Trainer Shug McGaughey has won the Travers three times. On Saturday, he sends out Mr Speaker, winner of the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland; Commanding Curve, second in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Jim Dandy; Kid Cruz, winner of the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont for trainer Linda Rice; and Charge Now, a son of two-time Classic winner Tiznow and V.E. Day, the 1-2 finishers in the recent Curlin Stakes and Ulanbator and Viva Majorca, for trainer Ian Wilkes complete the field.
Sunday's "Breeder's Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In" telecast of the 1 ¼ mile Pacific Classic for 3-year-olds and up, brings together an emerging star in the 3-year-old Shared Belief and the dominant Classic division standout of the past three years, the 7-year-old Game On Dude.
Sunday's show will also include the 7 furlong Pat O'Brien Stakes, for 3-year-olds and up, which is a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
Shared Belief, the reigning 2-year-old champion who is owned in a partnership led by sports radio personality and Breeders' Cup Ambassador Jim
Rome and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, enters the Pacific Classic undefeated and untested in five lifetime starts. He drew the outside post in the 11 horse field for the Pacific Classic and has been installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite. The son of Candy Ride blazed his way to a championship last season, when he went 3-for-3 in a season that culminated with a 5 ¾-length win in the CashCall Futurity (GI) at Hollywood Park in December.
Shared Belief was forced to miss the Triple Crown races with lingering foot issues, but has picked up where he left off in his two wins this year. He started his campaign defeating older horses in a six-furlong allowance at Golden Gate Fields in May, and then tried dirt and 1 ? miles for the first time in the Los Alamitos Derby (GII) in his last start July 5. The result was another scintillating performance, and the easy 4 ¼-length win sent him favored in the Pacific Classic.
Game On Dude, the 3-1 second choice, who is owned in partnership by Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre, won last year's Pacific Classic in track record time, drawing off by 8 ½ lengths. The son of 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Awesome Again has won 16-of-33 career starts and over $6.4 million in a distinguished career during which he has been a regular in the Breeders' Cup Classic, running second at Churchill Downs in 2011 and seventh and ninth, respectively, at Santa Anita in 2012 and 2013. However, Game On Dude has been inconsistent this year. He won the Santa Anita Handicap in March, but comes into the Pacific Classic off of a disappointing fourth-place finish at odds-on in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28.
The depth of the Pacific Classic is evident, as Gallant Stable's Gold Cup winner Majestic Harbor will likely be a distant third-choice in the race. The 6-year-old son of Rockport Harbor earned an automatic berth into the Classic by winning the Gold Cup at Santa Anita for trainer Sean McCarthy.
Among the other Pacific Classic contenders are Clubhouse Ride, who defeated Majestic Harbor in the Californian (GII) and was second in the Gold Cup for trainer Dan Hendricks; Imperative, who upset Game On Dude in the Charles Town Classic in April and was third in the Gold Cup for trainer George Papaprodromou; and Irish Surf, who won the local Cougar II in his last start July 25 for trainer Craig Lewis.
This weekend's Travers and Pacific Classic fields are so competitive in the Classic division that five horses in Randy Moss's Top 10 will be in action. Randy's Rankings
"Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In" on
NBC Sports Live Extra
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Extra -NBC Sports Group's live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets - will stream this Sunday's "Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In" coverage including the William Hill Haskell on NBC.
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The complete "Breeders' Cup Challenge Series Win and You're In" television schedule may be found at the following link: http://challenge.breederscup.com/schedule
About Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup administers the Breeders' Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing's year-end Championships. The Breeders' Cup also administers the Breeders' Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. The 2014 Breeders' Cup World Championships, consisting of 13 races and purses totaling $26 million will be held October 31-Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., and will be televised live by the
NBC Sports Group. Breeders' Cup press releases appear on the Breeders' Cup Web site, www.breederscup.com. You can also follow the Breeders' Cup on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
NBC SPORTS GROUP AND HORSE RACING:
NBC Sports Group is the exclusive home to the most important and prestigious events in horse racing, including the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup.
NBC has been the exclusive home of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes since 2001, and the Belmont Stakes since 2011, when the
NBC Sports Group reassembled the Triple Crown.
The 2014 Belmont Stakes on NBC, featuring California Chrome's Triple Crown attempt, averaged 20.4 million viewers - the second-highest Belmont Stakes viewership on record, trailing only the 21.9 million viewers for NBC's telecast of Smarty Jones' Triple Crown attempt in 2004 (People Meter viewership dates to 1988). In addition, the 2014 Kentucky Derby marked the fourth time in six years (2009, 2010, 2013, 2014) that NBC's Kentucky Derby coverage averaged more than 15 million viewers, and the 2014 Preakness Stakes registered a 6.0 household rating, ranking as the highest-rated Preakness Stakes since 2009 (6.8 for Rachel Alexandra's victory).
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