Odds to win the Breeders Cup Classic 2011: The Breeders' Cup World Championships are slated for this weekend at the legendary Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. The crown jewel of the annual event, the 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Classic, is scheduled to get underway at 6:15pm ET on Saturday, November 5 (ESPN). The Grade 1, $5million race features a number of Triple Crown horses, including Drosselmeyer, Ruler On Ice, and Stay Thirsty. This year's favorite, at 3 to 1 betting odds, is none other than the Saint Liam sired filly Havre De Grace.
Havre De Grace will have some stiff Classic competition, including Belmont winners Drosselmeyer (15/1) and Ruler On Ice
(30/1), but the filly has proven she can hold her own on the big stage. The four year old bay has won five of the six 2011 races she's entered and three of those wins came at Grade 1 events, including the 1 1/8-mile Woodward Stakes in September and the 1 1/8-mile Beldame Stakes in early October.
The Fox Hill Farms product, who is trained by Larry Jones, will be piloted by jockey Gabriel Saez this weekend. Saturday's event marks the second time Saez has been aboard the filly as he guided her to a first place finish at the Grade 3 Obeah Stakes back in June.
Another top contender in this weekend's field is one time Triple Crown favorite Uncle Mo (5/1). Sadly, the Todd Pletcher trained colt missed all the Triple Crown races due to complications from a rare liver disease, but he could earn a measure of redemption with a Classic win.
Uncle Mo, who won the first four races of his career, including the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November, returned to the track in August at the Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes. Mo took second at the seven furlongs run, but he scored another victory his last time out with a winning turn at the 1-mile Kelso Stakes.
Veteran jockey John Velazquez will be aboard Uncle Mo this weekend. Velazquez was scheduled to ride Uncle Mo at the Kentucky Derby in May, but he ended up in the saddle of Animal Kingdom due to Mo's late scratch. The Puerto Rican rider scored his second career Triple Crown victory (2007 Belmont Stakes – Rags to Riches) after Animal Kingdom's late charge foiled a winning bid from Nehro at the 137th Run for the Roses.
Velazquez has served as Uncle Mo's jockey in each of the colt's seven career races.
Odds to win the Breeders Cup Classic 2011: Provided by Bodog.eu
1. Prayer For Relief 30/1
2. Flat Out 6/1
3. Drosselmeyer 15/1
4. Ruler On Ice 30/1
5. So You Think (NZ) 5/1
6. Ice Box 30/1
7. Rattlesnake Bridge 30/1
8. Game On Dude 10/1
9. Stay Thirsty 12/1
10. Havre De Grace 3/1
11. Headache 30/1
12. Uncle Mo 5/1
13. To Honor and Serve 12/1
