Breeders' Cup 2026 Day 2 Tips: Keeneland Picks For The Mile, Turf And Classic

Championship Saturday at Keeneland brings the Breeders' Cup Mile, Turf and Classic, and Billy Grimshaw has been through all three looking for the winners. He is happy to take on a few of the bigger names and explains why a British raider, a mare on her farewell tour and a Bill Mott speedball are the ones he wants to be with.

20:20 Breeders Cup - Mile

The Breeders' Cup Mile is the race I find hardest to get a handle on every year, and this one is no different, because the field is loaded with front-runners and the pace scenario looks as heated as any I can remember at this meeting. Cabo Spirit, Zulu Kingdom, Qirat and Lugal all want to be on or near the lead, Deterministic has set the pace before and Rhetorical has plenty of speed as well, so somebody is going to have to give way and I would rather not be on the one who has to. That tells me to side with a horse who will be coming from off the pace, and I am quite happy to look away from the front end of this contest.

Notable Speech is the obvious place to start, and I have no argument with his ability. William Buick's mount won this race last year after rallying from seventh, he has since won the Woodbine Mile with Deterministic back in second, and he is the class act in the line-up for Charlie Appleby and Godolphin. My only quibble is that a horse who is produced late in a big field needs things to fall right, and he was a troubled fourth in the Maker's Mark Mile over this course earlier in the year, so there is a precedent for that going wrong. A hot pace should suit him as much as anything, but I would rather find something with a similar profile that has more to prove.

That leaves LAKE FOREST, who is the one I want to be with. William Haggas's five-year-old was second to Rhetorical in the Coolmore Turf Mile on his last start over this course and distance, and the form is better than the bare result suggests, because he was slow away, hampered by traffic and knocked about around the bend before finishing strongly and just failing to catch a winner who made the running in a slowly run race. Cieren Fallon was pleased with how tough he was and fully expects a stronger pace to suit this time, which seems fair given the names above. He was beaten two and three-quarter lengths by Notable Speech at York, so that line needs to be overturned, but the trip should be better and he is my selection in the Mile. The danger is that he gets boxed in again and has to wait for a gap.

21:36 Breeders Cup - Turf

The Breeders' Cup Turf is a proper international affair, and the trends tell you which way to lean, because twelve of the last sixteen winners were no closer than fifth after the opening half-mile and twenty-three of the last twenty-eight came from outside North America. Aidan O'Brien holds the record with seven wins in the race and he runs Diamond Necklace, a four-time Group 1 winner who was third against the males in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and Benvenuto Cellini, the Irish Derby winner who is a late closer and was third in the King George. I understand the support for both of them, but a filly who has had a long, hard season is not a free pass, as only three of the sixteen females to run since 2015 have won.

Ethical Diamond is last year's winner for Willie Mullins and he won it in the style the trends like, coming from a long way back after a steady early pace, but the one who beat him last time is the horse I want to be with. TIFFANY is a six-year-old Irish-bred mare trained by Sir Mark Prescott and owned by an Elite Racing Club syndicate that sold its shares at about £500 a time, and she has won nine of her nineteen starts, including the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin in August for what was her first top-level success.

What I like most is what she did next. She went to Kentucky Downs in September and beat Ethical Diamond by a length and three-quarters over this very trip of a mile and a half in the Kentucky Turf Cup, with Luke Morris, who rode her in Germany, on board there too and with the 2025 champion in behind her. Burnham Square faded badly in the heat that day, so I will not make too much of the form, but she did what she had to do, and this is her last race before she goes through the ring at Tattersalls. Prescott said she has little to lose and a lot to gain, and for a mare who has already won a Group 1 that sounds about right. She could easily find the Ballydoyle trio too classy, and the record of females in this race is a reminder that it is no walkover, but I think she has a major chance and she is my selection in the Turf.

22:16 Breeders Cup - Classic

The Breeders' Cup Classic looked a good deal harder before Magnitude was scratched, and while it is still a strong renewal, it is a tighter field and one with an interesting pace angle. Sovereignty is the reigning Horse of the Year and this is his final career start, and he won the Whitney by four and three-quarter lengths, but he has run only three times this year and has been recovering from a foot abscess, so for all that he has worked well since, I am not convinced he is at his peak. Forever Young has never finished worse than third in sixteen starts and is trying to be only the second horse to win the Classic twice, but this is only his second run since March and he drifted late in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

The three-year-olds fill out the line-up. Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont and is a closer who should be fine if the pace holds up, Napoleon Solo won the Preakness and was beaten only a half-length in both the Haskell and the Travers, and The Puma won the Pennsylvania Derby by a half-length. All of them deserve respect, but they are all taking on the older brigade in the deepest race of the year, and I would rather side with a proven older horse than back the three-year-olds blindly.

That is why I am with KNIGHTSBRIDGE, who is the form horse among the older brigade. Bill Mott's runner won the Monmouth Cup by ten and a quarter lengths with a huge speed figure and then won the Pacific Classic by six and a quarter while stepping up to a mile and a quarter, which is exactly the trip he needs here. With Magnitude gone he should not be in for a speed duel, since only Napoleon Solo and perhaps Forever Young, who likes to press, look like challenging him for the early lead, and Luis Saez should get a nice position on the front end. Mott also runs Sovereignty, which is the sort of thing to make you doubt yourself, and Keeneland is a new venue, as his only start here was a sprint two years ago, but I am happy to take that risk and he is my selection in the Classic.