Saturday Breeders' Cup Tips: Big priced Bobby's Kitten will get you purring at Santa Anita

"But there has been a strong suspicion that this pace-setter/prominent racer will be just as effective, if not more so, over a shorter trip like this, and I can see him running a big race from the front from a decent stall in six."

Back Bobby’s Kitchen @ 15.014/1 or better - 21:05 Santa Anita

Breeders' Cup Saturday is one of the highlight of the racing calendar, so with so much top class action on show we asked our regular tipster Tony Calvin to provide his bets bets of the night...

Having been lucky enough to have attended a few Breeders' Cups - though my first visit, to a rain-soaked Monmouth Park in 2007 wasn't the greatest advert for the sport - it is fair to say that I am a fan of the meeting.

Whether or not it should be split into two days is another matter - it should be a day-long occasion like the Dubai World Cup, especially with fine weather pretty much guaranteed in California - and the simple fact is, like the action in the desert, it doesn't really grab the attention of punters in the UK.

They simply don't know enough about the US horses and dirt racing to really unload, and the timing clearly doesn't help either. Which made those PR "gravy train" trips to Santa Anita and Dubai a bit hard to justify - impossible in fact, if truth be told - and probably explains why the Racing Post, Guardian and Telegraph are the only newspapers to have sent one reporter to this meeting.

But Breeders' Cup 2008 in Santa Anita was the scene for one of my most enjoyable punting moments, when Raven's Pass stormed through the gloom to take the Classic from Henrythenavigator and land the travelling UK media and journo syndicate the Pick 6 (equivalent of our Scoop 6) and hefty four-figure wins all round.

I even think I smiled.

It is undoubtedly a top-class meeting, even if the number of high-profile withdrawals this year - from Wise Dan downwards - is far greater than that of British Champions Day, but I tend to make this meeting a small-stakes interest card.

Be sure to check out the Timeform's cards, ratings and information on www.timeform.com, as they are an invaluable guide to the night's punting.

There are three bets worth having, but I'll go through the card in chronological order and touch on them one by one.

The opening Juvenile Fillies Dirt at 19:05 is not for me - that's a proper guessing game, and Timeform only have 6lb between the top six in their ratings - and I originally thought there was plenty of mileage in opposing Dank in the Filly & Mare Turf at 19:43.

For all that there is a quiet confidence emanating from the Stoute camp about her chances of retaining her title, her price is very skinny considering she hasn't raced since coming back very poorly indeed from Royal Ascot and Timeform only have her 4lb clear of these, too, so she has to be pretty near her best to be winning such a competitive race.

I went round in circles before deciding to sit this out, but I suspect I may end up place laying Dank if she gets too short near the off.

I moved swiftly past the Filly & Mare Sprint at 20:21 but I am going to take a shot at Bobby's Kitten at odds of 15.014/1 or better in the Turf Sprint at 21:05, though I wouldn't be all surprised were Caspar Netscher to come late and hard and go close here.

The angle often used in UK Sprints is latching on to a high-class miler stepping down in trip, and that is what we have with the selection.

He was third in the Juvenile Turf here last season and has been campaigned between 1m and 1m2f since, last time out finishing third to Trade Storm in the Woodbine Mile.

But there has been a strong suspicion that this pace-setter/prominent racer will be just as effective, if not more so, over a shorter trip like this, and I can see him running a big race from the front from a decent stall in six.

He is very keen, so giving him his head over a sprint trip could be just the job. And he is also only 3lb off Timeform's top-rated horse, and may even improve for the step down in distance.

Even in the absence of American Pharoah, the Breeders Cup Juvenile Dirt at 21:43 this year looks a very strong renewal for the home team, with Daredevil the clear form pick on his Champagne Stakes win, and stablemate Carpe Diem is also highly-rated after his runaway Futurity win.

But I think the horse that Daredevil beat at Belmont last time, Upstart, could be worth a small each-way play at odds of 13.012/1.

There was no disgrace in his second there but it could be that the "sloppy" conditions that day were not in his favour and his earlier wins at Saratoga saw him to be very effective on a faster track.

Timeform actually have him second top-rated in here, so a win and place play against the big two looks justified.

I think Flintshire is the likeliest European winner of the night in the Turf but I can't get overly-enthused about odds of around 11-4 given his win record, and predictably nothing floats my boat in the Dirt Sprint.

For some reason, I have never warmed to Toronado and although he is the best horse in the race in the Mile I cannot have him on my mind at around 9-4 in such a deep field around this tight track.

As with the Filly and Mare Turf though, I can't pinpoint any attractive bets against him, so I could well end up laying him for a place.

But for my final bet of the night I am going to suggest another each-way play at the 6-1 mark, and suggest Tonalist at odds of 7.413/2 in the Classic at 00:35.

The unbeaten Shared Belief has the best form coming into this race and is hard to knock, but that is why he is a 7-4 poke, and Tonalist offers a solid each-way alternative.

He doesn't have much to find with the favourite on the evidence of a career-best win in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Stakes at Belmont last time - what, with the Champagne and Futurity Stakes etc, did we nick all the titles of US races, or vice versa, by the way? - and he could still be improving. And, as a 1m4f winner, we know that he will stay if this turns into a grinding war of attrition again.

It'll be disappointing if he is out of the first three. But I'll be keeping stakes low.

Good luck.

Recommended Bets (all Santa Anita)

Back Bobby's Kitchen @ 15.014/1 or better - 21:05
Back Upstart @ 13.012/1 or better - 21:43
Back Upstart to Place @ 4.03/1 or better - 21:43
Back Tonalist @ 7.413/2 or better - 00:35
Back Tonalist to Place @ 2.77/4 or better - 00:35

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US Sunday Preview: Nothing Placid about Stephanie's Kitten

Disposeablepleasure gets all the allowances and can’t be ruled out but she will do well to see off Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Filly winner Stephanie’s Kitten

Graeme North takes you through the best of Sunday's action in the second part of his weekend preview...

Sunday's main event at Saratoga is the G2 Woodford Reserve Lake Placid Stakes (16:55 local time, 21:55 BST) for three-year-old fillies over nine furlongs on the turf and, with a couple of G1 races open to the same horses the day before, it's no surprise it has attracted just six runners.

Leading trainer and jockey at Saratoga, Todd Pletcher and Ramon Dominguez respectively, team up with Timeform top-rated Disposeablepleasure. All her best form, however, which includes a second to Zo Impressive in the Mother Goose at Belmont in June, has been achieved on dirt and she could only finish fourth on her only turf start so far which was more than a year ago. Disposeablepleasure gets all the allowances and can't be ruled out but she will do well to see off Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Filly winner Stephanie's Kitten, who was unlucky to finish only fourth in the Lake George Stakes (a race contested by Irish 1000 Guineas winner Samitar) here last month.

Nearly all the protagonists that day take each other on again but that result shouldn't be taken at face value- there was plenty of trouble in running which the winner Centre Court and second Better Lucky avoided and Stephanie's Kitten and Somali Lemonade didn't, all on the back of an overly strong pace set by the previously progressive Medolina whose rider had a lapse of judgement.

Medolina is worth another chance given the deep impression she created in her previous win at Belmont given she is much more likely to get her own way in front this time, but the longer distance will be in Stephanie's Kitten and a repeat of her previous best will probably be good enough. An exacta boxing her and Medolina might be the smart play.

There is European interest at Woodbine on Sunday when Andreas Wohler's Scalo runs in the G2 Sky Classic (16:44, 21:44 BST) over a mile and a quarter. He settled the Gerling-Preis at Cologne last year with a good turn of foot, returning a Timeform rating of 120 in the process, but he has run only three times since and was some way below his best on his reappearance at Dortmund in June. At his best he'd take all the beating and Morning Line forecasts of 2.6 reflect that, but the claims of the reliable Smart Bid are just as convincing.

Graham Motion's six-year-old is a regular at the top level in States and finished ahead of the former Luca Cumani trained Forte Dei Marmi in the Colonial Turf Cup at Colonial Downs back in June. He didn't need to be at his best when landing a non-graded stakes event at Penn National last time and is going to be very hard to keep out of the first two.

Chokurei, who won four races for Clive Cox last year culminating in a Nottingham handicap off a BHA mark of 82, makes her first North American start in the Belle Mahone Stakes (15:39, 20:39 BST) but she looks to have a fair bit to find on ratings. Mike Maker's Juanita, who won the G2 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs back in May, has 5lb in hand on Timeform's weight-adjusted figures but, though she has won on turf, she has never run on Tapeta and has shown all her best form on dirt. Second top-rated Moment of Majesty has won on the surface but her recent improvement has come on turf so all in all this is a tough race to call.

It's not often that Emerald Downs is on this column's radar but the Seattle venue plays host to the G3 Longacres Mile Handicap on Sunday. Several of the eleven runners have presumably been entered more in hope than expectation but a weight spread of 9lb helps bring the field together.

Top weight and veteran Awesome Gem was back to somewhere near his best last time on his first start this year on dirt when third in the Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows. That race, won by the subsequent G1 Whitney Handicap winner Fort Larned, is strong form in the context of this race but more important to Awesome Gem's chance is the prospect of a strong gallop- Fort Larned dictated the five-runner Cornhusker at a very slow tempo by dirt standards but three of the field in the Longacres has an average early position figure 90 or higher promising a very strongly-run race. That should be enough to make Awesome Gem's class tell, though Hudson Landing, who won here last time and was one place behind Awesome Gem in the G3 Berkeley Handicap at Golden Gates in May, is respected.

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