Essential Quality

DEL MAR, CA - With trainer Peter Miller looking on--and sporting a hoodie from his two-win performance at the 2018 Championships at Churchill Downs--streaking GI Breeders' Cup Mile contender Mo Forza (Uncle Mo) took a stroll through the Del Mar paddock on a brisk and cloudy Wednesday morning just before 7 a.m. Del Mar President and General Manager Joe Harper made his way to the well-attended WinStar and Fasig-Tipton Trackside Breakfast Marquee as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies co-second choice Juju's Map (Liam's Map) galloped strongly with her neck arched....

DEL MAR, CA - With no sign of the sun under a dense cloud cover at daybreak, champion Essential Quality (Tapit) set the stage for this weekend's 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships jogging the wrong way along the outer rail on a cool and comfortable Tuesday morning at Del Mar. Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner is the second choice on the morning-line at 3-1 for Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic trailing only his Brad Cox-trained stablemate Knicks Go (Paynter) at 5-2. More on the latter gray in a...

DEL MAR, CA - Leading older horse Knicks Go (Paynter) received the nod at 5-2 on the morning-line for Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic as a field of nine was drawn during Monday's Rood & Riddle Breeders' Cup Post-Position Draw held in the Del Mar paddock. The speedy 2021 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. and GI Whitney S. winner, hero of last term's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland, will be on the engine from post five in this first attempt at the 1 1/4-mile Classic distance....

Three of trainer Brad Cox's Breeders' Cup hopefuls turned in their final works ahead of championship weekend Sunday at Churchill Downs, a day later than originally planned due to rain in the Louisville area Saturday. Aiming for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Essential Quality (Tapit) went five furlongs in a bullet :59.40 (1/22) and Knicks Go (Paynter) covered the same distance in 1:01.20 (9/22). GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff contender Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) went her five furlongs in 1:00.80 (2/22). "It was a great morning and all three horses put in...

A half-sister to 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful Essential Quality (Tapit), Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, $4,215,144, Famed (Uncle Mo) followed in the latter's hoofprints with a 'Rising Star'-worthy romp of her own in the fall meet finale from Keeneland Saturday afternoon. The dark bay was bet down to 90 cents on the dollar for her much-anticipated debut at Churchill Sept. 26 and was in the thick of it from the start, but ultimately dropped a one-length decision to Sweet Dani Girl (Jess's Dream), who franked the...

The genius of the Breeders' Cup is the way it brings together the two ancillary channels of investment that offer a Thoroughbred racehorse such viability as it may have: from the bloodstock industry, on the one hand; and fans and handicappers, on the other. So far as the first group are concerned, it might be overstating things to say that the GI Kentucky Derby would not lose a single runner if they only ran for that blanket of roses. But it's certainly true that the values of the bloodstock market...

Champion Essential Quality (Tapit), GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), MGISW turf star Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}), defending GI Breeders' Cup Turf heroine Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal), top distaffer Letruska (Super Saver) and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Malathaat (Curlin) are among the 196 horses entered in the Nov. 5-6 Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held at Del Mar. This will be the second time the SoCal venue plays hosts to the Breeders' Cup, with the first being in 2017. The 56 international horses are a record number of...

Darley America will have two major new additions to its stallion roster for 2022 as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and GI Belmont S. winner Essential Quality (Tapit--Delightful Quality, by Elusive Quality) and fellow Grade I winner Maxfield (Street Sense--Velvety, by Bernardini) are set to retire to Jonabell after their final starts. "To have both Essential Quality and Maxfield coming to Jonabell is as exciting as it gets. And to have accomplished what they did as homebreds in the colors of Godolphin makes it even that much more meaningful," said Darley...

Horse owner and master promoter Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is no stranger to making big sports bets, but never anything like this. If his beloved Houston Astros win the World Series, McIngvale will make $35.6 million off of a series of bets he made in June. It would be the largest winning wager ever in U.S. sports betting history. McIngvale often combines his wagers with promotions at his Gallery Furniture Stores in Houston. Earlier this year, he promised his customers that any mattress they bought worth $3,000 or more would...

The Week in Review We're inside the five-week mark to the Breeders' Cup, and the top five contenders for the GI Classic all won their final graded stakes prep starts over the last two weekends. This past Saturday, three of those horses wired 1 1/8-miles graded stakes and earned roughly equal Beyer Speed Figures of 107, 107 and 104. At first blush, those performances look similar on paper, and it's tempting to make the leap to say the Classic will be glutted with early gunners who could hook each other...

A quartet of horses headed towards engagements at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar Nov. 6 were out for serious workouts Saturday morning at both major Kentucky venues. Champion Essential Quality (Tapit) worked five furlongs in the company of Ellis Park allowance winner Colonel Bowman (Curlin) just after the track opened for business shortly after 5:30 Saturday morning. The duo broke off at the half-mile pole, crossing the wire in :46.80 before completing the move around the clubhouse turn in :59.20. Essential Quality outgamed Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to...

Brad Cox-trained divisional leaders and GI Breeders' Cup Classic-bound runners Knicks Go (Paynter) and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) each breezed Saturday morning at Churchill Downs. The former, last seen running away with the GI Whitney S. at Saratoga last month, was clocked in 1:00.80 (17/61) for five panels. The Korea Racing Authority colorbearer is expected to go postward a heavy favorite in next Saturday's GIII Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs. Last year's champion juvenile and leading sophomore Essential Quality, meanwhile, went a half-mile in :50.60 (87/102). Most recently...