Major Pennsylvania stakes winners Seize the Grey and Thorpedo Anna are set to compete at this year’s Breeders’ Cup. The Keystone State’s most celebrated horse trainer, Steve Asmussen, will also race two horses at next month’s premier horse race.
Their presence highlights Pennsylvania’s connection to the $33 million, 14-race showcase Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar Racetrack in California.
During racing’s biggest weekend, the Breeders’ Cup will crown world champions in several divisions on dirt and turf. The event attracts a worldwide field of elite horses, jockeys, and trainers.
Nine world champions will be crowned at Del Mar
Horse race betting fans in Pennsylvania have several available betting options, including Caesars, FanDuel and DraftKings. There are also live-racing programs and simulcast facilities throughout the state for anyone interested in Breeders’ Cup betting.
At the Breeders’ Cup, Seize the Grey and Thorpedo Anna, who prevailed in the respective $1 million Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion Stakes Sept. 21 at Parx Racing in Bensalem, respectively, will attempt to win their biggest races of the year.
The weekend starts with Future Stars Friday, where the sport’s stars of tomorrow compete in five Juvenile (two-year-old) races. On Saturday, the Breeders’ Cup will crown nine more world champions across different surfaces and divisions, including the season-defining $7-million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
This will be one of the rare Saturdays that Parx Racing will conduct a live card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Details on the card and any promotions will occur as the Breeders’ Cup weekend draws closer.
Seize the Grey sizzles
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas confirmed in mid-October that Seize the Grey would enter the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Lukas had left the door open for his accomplished 3-year-old to enter the $7 million Classic, but that distance, 1-1/4 miles, looks less advantageous to the horse’s frontrunning style.
The trainer thus placed Seize the Grey in what he considered a better spot. His horse has been lethal in a frontrunning mode but finished seventh in his lone 1-1/4-mile race, the Belmont Stakes.
Seize the Grey captured the imagination of racing fans by winning the Preakness Stakes at 9-1 in May and then the Pennsylvania Derby at 4-1 in September. And momentum is building.
Seize the Grey has breezed twice at Lukas’ track in Louisville, KY. The colt traveled five furlongs in 59 seconds flat Oct. 3 and five furlongs in 59.40 seconds Oct. 13, Lukas said.
“He’s had two dandy workouts; he’s held his weight beautifully. I even let him two-minute lick a mile because I thought he might be getting a little heavy on me.”
Seize the Grey represents a twilight-glory opportunity for Lukas, who is 89.
The decision to run Seize the Grey in the Dirt Mile sets up a probable meeting between the last two winners of the Preakness as National Treasure (2023 champion) is expected to race. Stronghold, second to Seize the Grey in the Pennsylvania Derby, is listed as possible for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
Thorpedo Anna will try to cap dream campaign
Thorpedo Anna is the most exciting filly to hit the track since Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver in 2020. She is five-for-six this season and is targeted for the $2 million Distaff.
Thorpedo Anna had prevailed with panache in the Fantasy, the Kentucky Oaks, the Acorn and Coaching Club America before competing in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes in August. She narrowly lost to Fierceness.
One month later, Pennsylvania bettors got to see the likely Female Horse of the Year score a victory in the Cotillion. Thorpedo Anna won the $1 million event at 1-9 odds.
Top Pennsylvania trainer enters another Breeders’ Cup
Steve Asmussen has won the most Cotillion Stakes events at Parx Racing: five. He’s back in the spotlight for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
Asmussen will race Society, a frontrunner, and Zeitlos, a one-run closer.
One of his champions, 2018 Cotillion winner Midnight Bisou, later captured third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and earned an Eclipse Award.
Past Pennsylvania links to Breeders’ Cup
Bayern still sends shivers up the spine of some who saw his magical 2014 romp through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and then the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He remains the lone Pennsylvania Derby winner to seize the Classic. (Next closest was Gun Runner, who was second in the 2016 Pennsylvania Derby and then won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic).
The Bob Baffert-trained horse had already won the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey when he was sent off as the 7-2 second choice in the Pennsylvania Derby two months later. The 4-5 favorite was California Chrome, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes that year.
Keystone State bettors saw Bayern upset California Chrome, besting the field by five lengths. He set a Stakes record of 1:46.96 for the 1-1/8-mile distance that still stands.
In an exhilarating Breeders’ Cup rematch, Bayern won by a neck, while California Chrome was a fast-charging third.
Some recent Pennsylvania Derby winners have held their own without capturing the Classic. Hot Rod Charlie (2021) was fourth to Eclipse-Award winning Knicks Go. Taiba (2022) was third to the incomparable Flightline.
