Breeders’ Cup Sprint Tips and Trends
In anticipation of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup and its landmark sprint race, our team has come up with dainty pieces of information to help sports bettors make their winning Breeders Cup picks. Discover the trends, stats, and other juicy details of the looming horse racing competition.
Breeders Cup Sprint Preview
The Sprint is an annual short-distance horse race within the Breeders Cup World Championships, first held 40 years ago. The contest, hosted predominantly by the United States, is among the most sought-after races featuring the fastest horses in the world.
According to the 2024 Breeders Cup preview, this year’s edition will take place in California at a racecourse in Del Mar, one of the largest designated venues in the U.S. Male and female thoroughbreds of at least 3 years of age will run on the dirt track, gaining breakneck speeds.
Apart from the coveted winner title, contenders will race for a whopping two-million-dollar purse. However, the Breeders Cup is the reaping time not only for a thoroughbred owner, jockey, and anyone involved in the sport but also for all those who are heavily into betting on horse races.
Further on, we’ll cover the most recent trends of the event, go back to its history, highlighting the previous winners and trainer statistics, and do a detailed Breeders Cup analysis. With this knowledge at hand, you’ll be able to place a well-informed bet and claim a solid payout.
The rundown of the upcoming Breeders Cup Sprint is presented in the table below.
📅Event date | November 2, 2024 |
🏟️Event venue | Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California |
📏Distance | 6 Furlongs or 3/4 of a mile |
🌱Track surface | Dirt |
📶Grade level | I |
🐴Horse age | 3 years old + |
⚤Horse sex | Male and female |
⚖️Horse weight | Weight for age |
💰Purse | 2,000,000 U.S. Dollars |
2024 Breeders Cup Sprint Trends
When betting on the upscale short horse race, you can’t do without studying trends. The many years of the Breeders Cup Sprint have seen diverse patterns, and spotting the latest ones will assist you in getting insight into the competition and contenders and making the right decision.
Here are a few clear trends typical of the past Sprint editions that are worth paying attention to:
- The previous 10 winners were closers, meaning they didn’t run in front in the early stages and took the lead in the latter stages of the race.
- Outsiders and non-explicit favorites finished first more often in recent years, so it makes sense to look out for longshots or higher-paying wagers.
- Going hand in hand with the above trend, exotic betting is picking up steam, allowing punters to cover several choices and seek heftier returns.
- The majority of the last winners have had only two starts in the race, so first and second-time Sprint runners positively deserve your consideration.
- Just like most recent Breeders Cup Classic winners, the Sprint’s first-place finishers had been in excellent shape and performing great before their victorious run.
Breeders Cup Sprint Past Winners
The 2022 triumphant Elite Power repeated his success the following year. So, looking at the past Breeders Cup Sprint winners is instrumental in building your betting strategy and narrowing down the pickings. Here’s the list of runners who have ended up first in the last 10 race editions.
🗓️Year | 🏆Winner | 🐴Age | ⏱️Time | 🏇Jockey | 💪Trainer | 💼Owner |
2023 | Elite Power | 5 | 1:08.34 | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | William I. Mott | Juddmonte |
2022 | Elite Power | 4 | 1:09.11 | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | William I. Mott | Juddmonte |
2021 | Aloha West | 4 | 1:08.49 | Jose L. Ortiz | Wayne M. Catalano | Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners |
2020 | Whitmore | 7 | 1:08.61 | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Ron Moquett | LaPenta, Robert V., Moquett, Ron and Head of Plains Partners LLC |
2019 | Mitole | 4 | 1:09.00 | Ricardo Santana, Jr. | Steven M. Asmussen | Heiligbrodt, L. William and Corinne |
2018 | Roy H | 6 | 1:08.24 | Paco Lopez | Peter Miller | Rockingham Ranch and Bernsen, David A. |
2017 | Roy H | 5 | 1:08.61 | Kent J. Desormeaux | Peter Miller | Rockingham Ranch and Bernsen, David A. |
2016 | Drefong | 3 | 1:08.79 | Martin Garcia | Bob Baffert | Baoma Corporation |
2015 | Runhappy | 3 | 1:08.58 | Edgar S. Prado | Maria Borell | James McIngvale |
2014 | Work All Week | 5 | 1:08.28 | Florent Geroux | Roger A. Brueggemann | Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc. |
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Where Have the Winning Runners Come From?
Since the Sprint’s inauguration in 1984, the United States has been the dominant power in the tournament, winning 39 of the 40 editions. The only victory the Americans missed out on was in the 1991 race. It was snatched by Sheikh Albadou, a thoroughbred from the United Kingdom.
A clear underdog whose win was estimated by experts at odds of 26 to one, Sheikh Albadou took advantage of the favorite’s injury and came first to the finish line in an astonishing twist. He placed fourth in 1992, but to this day, Sheikh remains the first and only non-American winner.
The U.S. reigns supreme not only in the Sprint but also in other events under the Breeders Cup umbrella. However, in different years, the series’ trophies have gone to other countries, too. The following nations are among the contenders who have lifted the silverware besides the States:
- Argentina
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Great Britain
- Ireland
- Japan
Breeders Cup Sprint Trainer Statistics
Like in any other sport, there’s a tremendous effort from the trainer’s side behind every major achievement in horse racing. Researching who trains the runners and their Breeders Cup past performances under the trainers’ guidance will significantly improve your prediction accuracy.
The most decorated trainer in the 40-year history of the Breeders Cup World Championships is Bob Baffert. Under the supervision of the renowned racehorse trainer, 18 runners have become the series champions, among whom 5 won the Sprint in 1992, 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2016.
William I. Mott, Peter Miller, D. Wayne Lukas, and Jenine Sahadi have won the Sprint twice each, with Mott and Miller achieving it within the last 7 years. The table below gives the bigger picture of the top trainer statistics over the past 10 editions of the short-distance competition.
💪Trainer | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
William I. Mott | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1st | 1st |
Wayne M. Catalano | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5th | 1st | 4th and 11th | – |
Ron Moquett | – | – | – | 8th | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | – | – | – |
Steven M. Asmussen | – | 4th | – | – | – | 1st and 4th | 8th and 13th | 6th | 3rd | 2nd |
Peter Miller | – | – | – | 1st and 7th | 1st and 7th | – | 2nd | 7th | 2nd | – |
Bob Baffert | 2nd and 10th | – | 1st | 6th | – | – | – | – | – | 4th |
Maria Borell | – | 1st | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Roger A. Brueggemann | 1st | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Training and Performance Analysis
Making knowledgeable betting choices is impossible without digging deep into the Breeders Cup Sprint’s previous results. Thus, for the past decade, the champion horses were exclusively males saddled by American trainers, had an average age of 4.6, and weren’t mostly favorites.
In addition to the close scrutiny of the historical data, it’s pivotal to analyze every facet of the forthcoming edition and its contenders, including the horse performance, jockey, trainer, owner, etc. Here are the tidbits of the 2024 Sprint runners to enhance your race analysis.
🐎Contender | 🐴Age | 🏆Total starts/wins | 🏆2024 starts/wins | 🏇Jockey | 💪Trainer | 🗺️Country |
The Chosen Vron | 6 | 25/19 | 6/5 | Hector Berrios | J. Kruljac | USA |
Nakatomi | 5 | 18/6 | 3/1 | Tyler Gaffalione | Wesley Ward | USA |
Closethegame Sugar | 4 | 9/5 | 4/2 | Umberto Rispoli | Adam Rice | USA |
Don Frankie | 5 | 17/8 | 3/1 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Takashi Saito | Japan |
Meta Max | 4 | 14/5 | 4/1 | Akira Sugawara | Hideyuki Mori | Japan |
Manibhadra | 4 | 14/5 | 5/2 | Christophe Lemaire | Hideyuki Mori | Japan |
Escale | 3 | 12/4 | 6/3 | Kohei Matsuyama | Hideyuki Mori | Japan |
Remake | 5 | 17/8 | 2/1 | Yuga Kawada | Koichi Shintani | Japan |
Breeders Cup Schedule 2024
Horse racing fans are welcome to the scenic coastal town of Del Mar in early November this year to spend a fantastic weekend celebrating equestrian sports. Millions of people in dozens of nations, including India, who won’t be able to attend the competition can watch and bet online.
The Breeder Cup events comprise 14 top-grade races over various distances and surfaces, where the world’s best horses, jockeys, trainers, breeders, and owners compete for highly prestigious titles and handsome prize money. The complete 2024 calendar is as follows:
📅Date | 🏇Race | 📏Distance | 💰Purse |
November 1, 2024, Friday |
Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint | 5 Furlongs | $1,000,000 |
Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies | 11/16 Miles | $2,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf | 1 Mile | $1,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Juvenile | 11/16 Miles | $2,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf | 1 Mile | $1,000,000 | |
November 2, 2024, Saturday |
Breeders Cup Dirt Mile | 1 Mile | $1,000,000 |
Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf | 13/8 Miles | $2,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Sprint | 7 Furlongs | $1,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Mile | 1 Mile | $2,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Distaff | 11/8 Miles | $2,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Turf | 11/2 Miles | $5,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Classic | 11/4 Miles | $7,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Turf Sprint | 5 Furlongs | $1,000,000 | |
Breeders Cup Sprint | 6 Furlongs | $2,000,000 |
Conclusion
The Breeders Cup Sprint is a spectacular horse race in which purebreds showcase their speed and grace. By making educated picks, you can capitalize on this captivating contest. Take heed of our tips, examine the history and trends, do some good analytical work, and win your bets!
Breeders’ Cup 2023: Sprint