Breeders' Cup Sprint Picks 2017

Sprint Entries and Odds

Only three times over the past 10 years has the favorite won the Breeders' Cup Sprint, and three other times the winner was in double-digit odds, with an average winning price of 10-1 over that time.

In a race where speed is everything, only one horse in the race has run a sub 1:08 six furlongs this year, and that horse is Florida-bred Imperial Hint for trainer Luis Carvajal, when he won the Donald LeVine Memorial Stakes at Parx Racing in a time of 1:07.55, which was only 4/100ths of a second off the track record.

It was his fifth win in a row, and although he's taking a big step up in class here, he's shown consistent speed that makes him competitive in this group. He's drawn a tough post on the very outside of the gate, but if he can get out quickly enough he has the early speed to clear the field and try to take them wire-to-wire.

Favorite Will Be Dangerous

The whole race may come down to the performance of Drefong, the defending champ who overcame a bump at the start last year to fight gamely through the stretch and go on to win by 1 1/4 lengths. His first start of this season was an adventure, as he took a hard left turn out of the gate in the Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar and dumped jockey Mike Smith.

Since then he's come back to win the (G1) Forego Stakes at Saratoga with relative ease. He's a deserving favorite, but he may be just a bit better at seven furlongs, and with only the one real race under his saddle this year, he may not be fully cranked up to take on this tough field.

After trying longer races with mixed results early in the season in a bid to make the 2017 Kentucky Derby field, Takaful has been reborn as a sprinter, and has two wins and a runner-up finish in his last three at seven furlongs or less. Two of those were in Grade 1 races, and the most recent was a very solid win in the (G1) Vosbugh, where he pressed the favorite through a fast half-mile and then took over late to win by a full length. He's a solid exacta and trifecta play at what should be generous odds.

A late bloomer with a sporting chance to get in the picture at the wire is Roy H, a five-year-old gelding for trainer Peter Miller, who has scored four of his five lifetime wins this year. He only came out of the allowance ranks to try graded-stakes races three starts back, when he won the (G2) True North Stakes at Belmont Park.

He was the likely winner after Drefong's misadventures in the Bing Crosby, but was bothered by that one running loose as they turned for home and finished second. He followed that up with a win in the (G1) Santa Anita Sprint Championships, and if the pace here falters late, expect him to be there and grab a big piece.

The Breeders' Cup Sprint goes Saturday, November 4 from Del Mar race track in Del Mar, California. The fifth of nine Breeders' Cup World Championship races on the day, it has an expected post time of 5:37 PM Eastern.

Entries w/ Odds from Bovada

1. Calculator (28-1)
2. Drefong (6-5)
3. American Pastime (25-1)
4. B Squared (66-1)
5. Whitmore (16-1)
6. Mind Your Biscuits (13-2)
7. Takaful (7-1)
8. Roy H (9-2)
9. Ransom The Moon (16-1)
10. Imperial Hint (9-1) 

Sprint Picks

• #10 - Imperial Hint
• #7 - Takaful
• #2 - Drefong
• #8 - Roy H 

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Category : Betting Picks

Tag : Bovada , Breeders Cup , Horse Racing