The 2019 edition of the Breeders Cup takes place this weekend, with some of the most renown names in the sport making their way to Santa Anita Park in California. While punters have 22 races to choose from across Friday and Saturday, the most high-profile contest of the meeting will close the event as 11 horses attempt to become the next victor in the Breeders Cup Classic. With $3.78m the reward for the winner, the stakes do not get much higher in this sport, and prices currently on offer with bookmakers suggest that it should be a closely-run affair. However, when taking the important factors into consideration, it is difficult to back against McKinzie.
When contemplating your horse racing tips today, you should be assessing the past winning stables and the varying courses if intending to place a bet on this American showcase event. It has been three years since the race was held at Santa Anita Park but on the last two occasions at this location, Bob Baffert has been the winning trainer. McKinzie is a year older than the three-year-olds in Bayern and Arrogate who prevailed in 2014 and 2016 respectively, but Baffert's only representative on Saturday is McKinzie, suggesting that he is fully expecting a much improved performance on 12 months ago when McKinzie only finished in 12th position out of 14 runners.
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Despite reservations over that performance being understandable, it should be noted that the Churchill Downs course is considerably slower than Santa Anita Park, a factor which ultimately played its part. It was remains the solitary time when McKinzie has not finished inside the top two in 13 outings, highlighting that the current betting odds of 10/3 represent good value. Baffert has also no doubt had a hand in bringing in jockey Joel Rosario, who rode last year's winner Accelerate. The general consensus is that McKinzie and the stable could not be better prepared for the 36th staging of this historic race, and a win-only or each-way bet feels like a no brainer.
As far as the best of the rest are concerned, we also see value in taking a punt on Yoshida. The Japanese entrant, currently priced in the region of 7/1, finished in fourth place 12 months ago, having gone off as a 14/1 shot. It has been 14 months and six races since the five-year-old was in the winners' enclosure but with former victor Mike Smith on board, much is expected with the jockey and trainer William Mott having worked together when Drosselmeyer emerged victorious in the 2011 edition.
