Key events
It’s around a quarter of an hour to the Filly & Mare Sprint, and Ways And Means is a very warm favourite at 4-5 on the US tote.
Latest betting (US odds):
4-5 Ways And Means
5-1 Explora
7-1 Kilwin & Sweet Azteca
8-1 R Disaster
19-1 bar
Pace map: Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
The pace is likely to be fierce as four or five of the runners have been on or close to the lead after the first quarter-mile in the majority of their recent starts, including R Disaster and Kerry’s Kiss, drawn four and eight respectively, who are most likely to duel for the early lead. Explora too likes to be close to the lead, but may end up three or four wide from her outside stall, while Ways And Means should have a smoother time of it towards the inside.
17.10 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, Grade One, 7f
The Saturday card kicks off with a sprint that isn’t, by European standards at least, as seven furlongs is past the point where a horse can simply go flat out from the start (a bit like the 400m in athletics, when compared to the 100m or 200m). And it is perhaps no co-incidence that wire-to-wire winners are a rarity.
Nor is there a standout trial event that regularly highlights the winner, although Goodnight Olive took in the Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga before her wins in 2022 and 2023. Ways And Means, the morning-line favourite, was the winner of that contest this year, by nearly six lengths, and is expected to go off favourite today.
She breezed past R Disaster, a rival again today, at the top of the stretch and it is difficult to see Saffie Joseph’s mare reversing the form.
The second-favourite, meanwhile, is the three-year-old Explora, from the Bob Baffert stable. She was beaten at odds-on last time out, but had earlier taken the Grade One Test Stakes at Saratoga, over the same seven-furlong trip as the Ballerina, by five lengths.
Another leading contender to consider is Sweet Azteca, a six-year-old who is unbeaten in four starts this year since a stable-switch to join Richard Baltas. Her latest win, in a Grade Three at Del Mar, still leaves her with something to find to trouble the favourite, though.
Ways And Means is short enough in the betting but I can see her getting a better trip through the race than Explora, who is drawn in stall 11 and could end up three or four wide.
Preamble
Welcome to the Guardian’s liveblog coverage of the main card at the 2026 Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky, where a strong team from Europe will be bidding for a first-ever clean sweep of the Cup’s turf events and, at the climax of the card, all eyes will be on the Japanese superstar, Forever Young, as he bids to become only the second horse in Breeders’ Cup history to win a second Classic.
Yesterday’s three turf events for juveniles were a complete rout for the visitors, who had the first seven home in both the Juvenile Turf Sprint and the Juvenile Fillies Turf, and the 1-2-3 in the Juvenile Turf. The European team also have the favourites for three of today’s four turf races, with the only exception being the Turf Sprint at 17.48, where Wesley Ward’s Bacio is nudging even-money to follow up his wins at Royal Ascot and York earlier in the season.
The highlight of the card for European fans is surely the Turf at 21.36, where a host of the continent’s best middle-distance horses will chase a share of the $5m purse, but Notable Speech is a huge runner too in the Mile (20.20) and the latest face-off between Blue Bolt and Precise in the Filly & Mare Turf (19.04) also promises to be something to savour.
It was an evening for the form horses yesterday, which is probably why I somehow managed to find four of the five winners. That, of course, all-but guarantees a complete blank today, but my picks for the nine races are here just in case, and we will be underway on one of the great racing rollercoasters with the Filly & Mare Sprint at 17.10.
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