DEL MAR — The Breeders’ Cup begins Friday at Del Mar Racetrack, and while it will not be the first one missing a horse trained by D. Wayne Lukas, it will be the first one since Lukas died in June at age 89.
Bob Baffert, the most famous trainer since Lukas, knows what that means.
“He’s the one that really put the Breeders’ Cup on the map,” Baffert said Thursday morning.
Lukas didn’t win a race at the inaugural Breeders’ Cup in 1984, but it would be six years before that happened again. From 1984-89, at a time when there were just seven Cup races each year, horses trained by Lukas won 11 races, including hat tricks in 1985 and 1988. In the 41 years of the Breeders’ Cup, only five trainers have won more than Lukas won in those five years.
Lukas, whose last Breeders’ Cup starter was a year ago at Del Mar, finished his career with 20 Cup wins. His last one was in 2014, but no one has passed him yet.
That could change on Friday. Aidan O’Brien, tied with Lukas at 20, will start the morning-line favorite in all three turf races for 2-year-olds on what the Breeders’ Cup calls “Future Stars Friday.” And Baffert, who is one behind Lukas with 19, has four starters in the two dirt races, including the early favorite in the Juvenile Fillies.
It would only be fitting if Baffert passed Lukas by winning a 2-year-old race; Lukas won the Juvenile Fillies a record six times and the Juvenile five times, which was a record until Baffert won No. 6 here last year.
Not only that, but as Baffert said, Lukas never stopped believing he had another great juvenile on the way.
“To the very end, he was convinced,” said Baffert, who more than once has said he switched from training quarter horses to thoroughbreds because he saw Lukas have success doing the same thing. “He always told me, ‘I’ve got a really good 2-year-old in the barn. I think I’m going to make some noise next year. I was going to retire, but I got a good one.’”
The Juvenile usually draws the most attention of any of the Friday races, with its winner becoming the (very) early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, even though only twice in more than 40 years has the same horse won both races (Street Sense and Nyquist).
Baffert and one of Lukas’ former assistants, Todd Pletcher, have combined to win the last four Juveniles, and they will start the top two choices again today.
At 4-5, Pletcher’s Ted Noffey is the strongest morning-line favorite in any of the 14 Cup races Friday and Saturday. The Into Mischief colt has won all three of his starts without really being threatened.
“We’re optimistic,” said Pletcher, who counts four Juveniles among his 15 Cup victories. “We like the progression he’s made from when he came in early this summer to now and I think he’ll continue to physically fill out as well.”
While Ted Noffey is proven around two turns, Baffert’s Brant (3-1) will be trying to extend his speed that far for the first time. A $3 million purchase earlier this year, the son of Gun Runner — who won the first Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar in 2017 — went 2-for-2 here this summer, including the Del Mar Futurity. But he hasn’t started since that Sept. 7 race.
“It’s going to be interesting how he handles that second turn,” Baffert said. “I think he should, but you don’t know until they do it.”
Baffert also will start Litmus Test, who was third behind Ted Noffey a few weeks ago at Keeneland. Litmus Test is 15-1 on the morning line; Baffert won last year’s Juvenile here with Citizen Bull at — you guessed it — 15-1.
Other top contenders include Blackout Time (5-1), second to Ted Noffey at Keeneland, and Intrepido (8-1), who upset the field in the American Pharoah at Santa Anita after breaking his maiden at Del Mar for San Diego owners Michele Arthur and Ruben Islas.
Baffert and Pletcher will reverse roles in the Juvenile Fillies, with the former’s Explora at 5-2 on the morning line and the latter’s Tommy Jo second choice at 7-2. Also at 7-2 are Percy’s Bar and Del Mar Debutante winner Bottle of Rouge — who is owned by Baffert’s wife, Jill.
“She’s expecting a lot there,” Baffert said, smiling, “and the other filly (Explora) is a really good filly, and I thought she would win last time (in the Debutante) and Jill’s filly beat her.
“I don’t care who wins, I just hope (it’s) one of them.”
First-day fatality
The long weekend did not get off to a good start. In the fifth race on opening day of Del Mar’s fall meeting, a 5-year-old mare named Esmeray broke her right hind leg with a little more than a furlong remaining in the 1 1/16-mile turf race and had to be euthanized. Jockey Serafin Carmona did not appear to be injured.
Esmeray was owned by Ron Charles and trained by Manuel Badilla. She was winless in six prior California starts this year after coming over from England, where she raced 10 times in 2023-24, winning four. Her most recent race, a close-up fourth on Oct. 5 at Santa Anita, was followed by morning workouts on Oct. 19 and Oct. 25, also in Arcadia.
Del Mar had two racing fatalities during the summer meeting, Aug. 2 on the turf course and Aug. 30 on the main track.
Notable
O’Brien’s three morning-line favorites: True Love (7-2) in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Precise (6-5) in the Juvenile Turf Fillies and Gstaad (9-5) in the Juvenile Turf. He has two other starters in the sprint race.
• Scottish Lassie was scratched from Saturday’s $2 million Distaff with a foot injury.
• Thursday’s feature, the $100,000 Let It Ride Stakes, was won by Tempus Volat ($23.40), with Mirco Demuro riding for trainer Leonard Powell. The even-money favorite, Friendly Confines, was second.
Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar
Friday
First post: 11:35 a.m. (10 races)
Weather.com forecast: 70 degrees, partly cloudy
Cup races: Juvenile Turf Sprint (2:45 p.m.), Juvenile Fillies (3:25), Juvenile Fillies Turf (4:05), Juvenile (4:45), Juvenile Turf (5:25)
On the air: 1-5 p.m., USA Network; all races on FanDuel TV and breederscup.com; all Cup races streamed on Peacock
Saturday
First post: 10:05 a.m. (12 races)
Weather.com forecast: 69 degrees, afternoon sun
Cup races: Filly & Mare Sprint (noon), Turf Sprint (12:41), Sprint (1:21), Distaff (2:01), Turf (2:41), Classic (3:25), Mile (4:05), Dirt Mile (4:45), Filly and Mare Turf (5:25)
On the air: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., USA Network; 12:30-4 p.m., NBC; 4-5 p.m., USA; all races on FanDuel TV and breederscup.com; all Cup races streamed on Peacock