Corniche takes win in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
DEL MAR, Calif. – Corniche won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 13/4 lengths at Del Mar on Friday, stamping the colt as the early favorite for next year’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, where his trainer, Bob Baffert, has been banned.
Sent off as the 7-5 favorite, Corniche sprinted to the lead out of the starting gate and stayed there under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. The 2-yearold bay colt ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.50.
Corniche paid $4.80 to win. Pappacap was second and Giant Game was another 11/2 lengths back in third.
Jack Christopher, the early 9-5 favorite, was scratched because of a left shin issue.
All of the day’s 10 races – led by five Cup races for 2-year-olds – went off safely on a foggy and unusually cool 60-degree (15 Celsius) day at the seaside track north of San Diego.
For the first time, all 14 races in the two-day world championships are being run without race-day medication allowed.
Baffert was allowed to enter horses, but the event’s money-leading trainer had to meet certain conditions, including stricter out-of-competition testing of his horses and greater security at his barn. He agreed to the extra scrutiny and was required to pay for it out of his own pocket.
Baffert was banned by Churchill Downs for the 2022 and 2023 Kentucky Derbies after Medina Spirit finished first in this year’s race and then failed a post-race drug test. The medication involved is allowed in Kentucky, but not on race day. Baffert’s horses have had five failed drug tests in the last year.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has yet to make a final ruling on Medina Spirit’s victory.
Trainer Christophe Clement snapped an 0-for-41 slump in the Breeders’ Cup when 9-2 shot Pizza Bianca went from last to first in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Owned and bred by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, Pizza Bianca ran a mile in 1:36.08 and paid $21.80 to win. Jockey Jose Ortiz had a start-and-stop trip, threading the 2-year-old filly through narrow openings created by the traffic from a 14-horse field.
Racing resumes Saturday with nine Cup races, topped by the $6 million Classic.