Of the 13 races coming up during the two-day Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships on Nov. 3-4, one of the shortest priced favorites will be in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).
Bolt d’Oro has solidified himself as the top two-year-old in training, perfect in three career starts with a pair of Grade 1 wins already under his belt.
The colt is currently at betting odds of +580 for next spring’s Run for the Roses and figures to be closer to even money by the time the gates pop open for the Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 4.
The colt was a $630,000 purchase, a son of Medaglia d’Oro, who earned $5.7 million in his career and ran second in the 2002 and 2003 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Trained by Mick Ruis, Bolt d’Oro made his debut at Del Mar on Aug. 5 and drew clear late to win by 2 ¼ lengths as the 4-5 betting favorite.
Next up was the Del Mar Futurity (G1) where he sat off the pace after getting off a beat slow and rallied for the win.
His most impressive win came next where he won the Frontrunner (G1) at Santa Anita in his first start around two turns, rolling to a 7 ¾ length victory.
His main rivals in the Juvenile figure to be Free Drop Billy and Firenze Fire.
Free Drop Billy, who is +2000 in early Kentucky Derby betting, was a sharp winner of the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland in his last outing. The son of Union Rags is trained by Dale Romans.
Firenze Fire has won three of his four career starts and won the Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park in his last outing. The colt is trained by Jason Servis, who is having an outstanding 2017, winning at a 30% clip overall.
The son of Poseidon’s Warrior is currently listed at +3300 in early Kentucky Derby betting.
Last year’s Juvenile winner was Classic Empire, trained by Mark Casse. The colt went on to run fourth in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness (G1).
The two key races Juvenile winners prep in is the Champagne, which has produced eight winners, and the Breeders’ Futurity, which has produced six winners of the Juvenile.
Classic Empire won the Breeders’ Futurity last year as his final prep for the Juvenile.
The 2016 Juvenile winner was Nyquist, who won the Frontrunner (G1) at Santa Anita in his final prep. He became the second Juvenile winner to go on and win the Kentucky Derby. Street Sense in 2006 was the first.