In the end, I thought Breeders' Cup Friday was an artistic success. Moving all the 2-year-old races to one day played out well, and seemed to me to be by far the best format we've seen to date since the Breeders' Cup went to a two day event.
As for the results, we saw one slam dunk champion crowned in Juvenile winner Game Winner. The Juvenile was Game Winner's third straight Grade 1 victory, though it is perfectly acceptable to wonder a bit about this group when Knicks Go and Signalman ran second and third in the Juvenile at odds of 40-1 and 67-1, respectively.
We also saw two outstanding 2-year-old fillies in Newspaperofrecord, breathtaking winner of the Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Jaywalk, romping winner of the Juvenile Fillies. There is no doubt they will be two of the three divisional Eclipse Award finalists.
Back at it tomorrow, where the latest forecast calls for sunny weather, a temperature of 59, which will be 10 welcome degrees warmer than it was here today, and one of the most competitive Breeders' Cup Classics we've seen in recent years.