If you like to bet on horse racing and lean toward the spiritual side of things the Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 4th features spirits and ghosts. (Photo credit: Breeders’ Cup Ltd.)
If you like to bet on horse racing and lean toward the spiritual side of things then you’re in luck; the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 4th at Del Mar Racetrack features spirits, ghosts, and banshees – sort of – for horse racing betting fans who, like the sad Dane, believe that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by philosophy.
Mor Spirit
This Eskendereya colt left Fasig-Tipton Co.’s premiere two-year-olds in training sale at Gulfstream Park on March 2nd, 2015 with a $650,000 price tag, and seven months later Mor Spirit had already paid for himself twofold. He finished 10th in the 2016 Kentucky Derby after which owner Michael Petersen gave the horse some time off – which he or he may not have spent in an equine spiritual retreat – which trainer Bob Baffert credited for Spirit’s subsequent success; he returned in December with a fourth place finish in the Malibu Stakes, a second in the San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita February, and a stretch of three straight wins, including the one mile Metropolitan Handicap on June 10th at Belmont Park. “He deserves to win a race like this,” Baffert told Daily Racing Form following the Met Mile. “This is what we were pointing for with him. After the Derby, we freshened him up and said we’re going to have fun with him. So far, he’s been golden.”
Shaman Ghost
This Stronach Stables-owned colt first became a blip on the radar of people who bet on horse racing when he won the Brooklyn Invitational Stakes on June 11th, 2016 and he has just kept getting better ever since. Shaman Ghost won the Santa Anita Handicap and Belmont Park’s Woodward Stakes and was the runner-up to Arrogate in the first-ever Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park. He was a heavy horse racing betting favourite to win the Belmont’s Suburban Stakes, but was upset by Keen Ice. “I love the horse and I have so much confidence in him because he reminds me of his father Ghostzapper,” Jockey Javier Castellano told the Los Angeles Times after they won the Pimlico Special Handicap in May. Hall of Famer Ghostzapper won the Breeders’ Cup Classic the same year he earned Horse of the Year honors (2004), and his sire Awesome Again won the 1998 edition. Shaman Ghost could become a third generation winner.
Irish War Cry
this third generation New Jersey-bred on his maternal side won his first three starts and was the even-money fave in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park in March, so people who bet on horse racing were understandably disappointed when he finished in 7th place. However, Irish War Cry bounced back with a victory in the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct in April. He was in contention at the top of the stretch in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, but lost steam and ultimately settled for a 10th place finish. Irish War Cry’s sire Curlin won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
