Breeders' Cup Tips Today: Friday’s Best Bets and Top Selections at Del Mar

Billed 'Future Stars Friday', the first day of the Breeders' Cup is all about the youngsters who will hopefully be lighting up the track for years to come. After the success of the meeting at Del Mar in 2024 it returns for 2025 and once again the draw and early gate-speed will be vital. Billy Grimshaw has two bets in the turf races and makes the case here...

21:45 Del Mar - Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint

True Love at 7/2 is certainly getting to a very backable price on her Newmarket win, pedigree and profile, but it's a deep race so I won't be rowing in with her. I suspect she’ll be better over further and at a less tight track in time.

There are chances aplenty, mainly from the European raiders, but I cannot believe the disrespect being shown to James Owen’s ASPECT ISLAND. With the perpetually retiring enigma Frankie Dettori taking the ride, I’ll be getting stuck into him each-way as my favourite bet of the night on Future Stars Friday at Del Mar.

I accept that Aidan O’Brien is a bigger name and his horses will be shorter than those of James Owen should they bring similar form to the table, but it’s no slight on Owen to say he does not quite match up to the greatest of all time. Very few trainers on the planet do. However, considering there was less than a length between O'Brien's Brussels and Owen’s Aspect Island last time at Ascot, how can the price be more than double in some places?

Even with the Ballydoyle tax, that discrepancy is too big. Looking deeper, Aspect Island bolting up at a tight track like Yarmouth on his penultimate run - yes, I know this race is echelons above that - suggests he’ll be well suited to Del Mar. His draw in four looks just about perfect and there's little putting me off at present.

It’s not an easy race though and from a different UK formline, I wouldn’t rule out Havana Anna reversing Newmarket placings with the favourite. At the odds though I am willing to take a punt the Ascot race Brussels and Aspect Island contested works out the better in time and so we could be on a great value bet at 16/1 or above. If you are debating exotic bets, perhaps those two with Havana Anna thrown in could be the way to go.

23:05 Del Mar - Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf

This is a cracking renewal of the Juvenile Fillies Turf and one that looks set to fall the way of PRECISE, who brings real depth of form from Europe. Her win in the Moyglare was the mark of a filly with a serious engine, and the way she travelled before quickening clear suggested she’d have no problem adapting to American-style racing. The draw out wide in 13 isn’t ideal around Del Mar’s tight bends, but she has the tactical pace to slot in and a turn of foot that should prove lethal if she gets a clear run. Christophe Soumillon has his work cut out but is up to the task.

The home team is solid, but not spectacular, as is often the way in turf races. She Feels Pretty has talent yet hasn’t faced anything quite as streetwise as this Ballydoyle runner, while Imaginationthelady could be the danger if she drops her head early under Dettori. Even so, the European fillies look to hold the aces, and none bring the same level of class as Precise, who has looked the complete package from the first day she stepped on a racecourse.

Aidan O’Brien has an outstanding record with his two-year-old fillies at this meeting, and there’s every reason to think this one will keep that trend going. Her balance, acceleration and professionalism tick every box for Del Mar, and if she reproduces anything close to her Irish form, she should simply be too good. She is the latest filly 'we've never seen anything like' according to the master of Ballydoyle but perhaps this one actually will live up to the hype.