Avid horse bettors can think of the next two weekends of featured races as the calm before the storm. Top-graded stakes races are put on pause at the end of October in preparation for the biggest horse betting event of the year.
The field for 2020 Breeders Cup races are starting to take shape with all the qualifying events in the books. From the Breeders’ Cup $2 million Juvenile on Friday, Nov. 6 to Saturday’s $6 million BC Classic, the total prize money up for grabs across this two-day, 14-race extravaganza is $31 million.
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The ‘best of the best” from around the world will complete on the dirt and turf tracks at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky.
As far as betting a few races of interest this weekend, Belmont Park will run this year’s Empire Classic as the featured race on Saturday’s card. The fillies take center stage on Sunday in the 2020 Athenia Stakes.
2020 Empire Classic Preview- Belmont Park
When: Saturday, October 24th 2020
The Empire Classic is an ungraded stakes race open to Thoroughbreds three years and older. This event will be contested on the dirt track at Belmont Park covering a distance of 1 1/8 miles.
Horse Racing Nation has complied a list of 10 entries that are either probable or possible to run in this race. Listed as probable, Mr. Buff has the highest HRN rating in the projected field at 6.67.
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Trained by John Kimmel, this veteran six-year old gelding was bred in New York and he has run the majority of his races on New York tracks. This will be his third career run in the Empire Classic after winning the race last year after placing third in 2018. The son of Friend Or Foe placed fifth in this year’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 1 his last time out.
Trainer Steve Asmussen is expected to run two of his better horses in Saturday’s featured event. The first is Chestertown with a HRN rating of 6.16. This three-year old colt was also bred in New York with Tapit the sire.
He placed first his last time out in the ungraded Albany Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 4. Chestertown covered the 1 1/8 miles on dirt in 1:49.79.
The other probable Asmussen entry is Bankit. He is looking to rebound from a disappointing seventh place finish at Churchill Downs on Sept. 26 in the Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes. He placed third at Belmont this summer in the one mile Commentator Stakes on June 12.
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2020 Athenia Stakes Preview – Belmont Park
When: Sunday, October 25th 2020
Open to three-year and older fillies, Sunday’s featured race is a Grade 3 event. Run on the turf at Belmont, this race covers 1 1/16 miles.
This is another field that is still taking shape. The current list has eight entries set as probable or possible. The one at the top of the list would be Feel Glorious with a 5.34 HRN rating. Trained by Christophe Clement, this four-year old filly was bred in Great Britain by Bated Breath and Self Centered.
Last time out at Belmont was rather forgettable with a seventh-place run in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel Stakes on Sept. 26. Prior to that, she won the ungraded Perfect Sting Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 14. She covered the 1 1/6 miles distance on turf in that race with a winning time of 1:42.09.
Two other probable entries to watch in Sunday’s Athenia are Our Bay B Ruth and No Mo Lady.
