Horse Racing Tips

Breeders' Cup Tips: Mark Milligan's three best bets on Friday at up to 8/1

Horse racing at Del Mar
Mark has three selections at Del Mar on Friday

US racing expert Mark Milligan has cast his eye over night one of the Breeders' Cup and has three selections to kick off the meeting...

  • Ward speedster can blitz rivals on turf

  • Mark thinks he's found value in the Juvenile Fillies'

  • Intrepido can turn over the market leader in Juvenile


21:45 Del Mar - Back Schwarzenegger @ 13/27.50

Team Europe have dominated the Juvenile Turf Sprint over the last few years, and they typically hold a strong hand once again, with True Love looking the standout performer.

However, it's no secret that Wesley Ward is adept with juvenile sprinters (has taken this race three times in the past) and he looks to have a strong candidate in the shape of the unexposed Schwarzenegger.

The powerful son of Not This Time showed blazing speed on his debut at Saratoga in August, going clear early before being run down late on, but he made no mistake next time, beating a couple of these rivals at Keeneland last month.

Both his starts to date have come over 5.5f but he shapes as if the minimum trip could well prove his optimum and he has the pace to overcome a wide draw from stall 11.

If Schwarzenegger bags the early lead under John Velzaquez, he'll prove very hard to peg back on the speed-favouring track.


22:25 Del Mar - Back Super Corredora E/W @ 8/19.00

This doesn't look the deepest renewal on the Juvenile Fillies' and it could be ripe for a bit of an upset.

As one would expect, Bob Baffert holds a strong hand, fielding Explora and Bottle of Rouge, who head the market on the Betfair Sportsbook at the time of writing, though the trainer has a surprisingly poor record in this race (just two wins, the latest coming in 2007). Although the latter has already beaten the former (over 7f), I'm expecting Explora to come out on top this time as she seems a better filly around two turns.

However, another filly who will relish the extra distance she gets to work with here is John Sadler's Super Corredora. A daughter of Gun Runner, she was unsurprisingly not quick enough to get close to a couple of these rivals over sprint trips on her first two starts, but she bolted up when stepped up to a mile last time, breaking her maiden by over eight lengths.

Her form is trending in the right direction and she doesn't have a great deal of improvement to find with the market leaders on the figures, while the extra half furlong of this race will suit her ideally.


23:45 Del Mar - Back Intrepido @ 6/17.00

The unbeaten Ted Noffey heads into the Juvenile as a short-priced favourite and a repeat of either of his last two wins in Grade 1 company will make him tough to beat. However, he has drawn the outside post and has had to ship from the east coast to the west, so there may be some mileage in taking him on.

Bob Baffert's Brant is the obvious starting point, and he produced a dazzling speed figure on debut on the way to an impressive win. While he was more workmanlike that spectacular in the Del Mar Futurity last time, he never looked like being overhauled.

If you fancy Brant, though, you also need to take a long look at Intrepido, who beat the same rival as that one (Desert Gate) in the American Pharoah at Santa Anita last time and did it on the back of a troubled trip.

Intrepido had little room to work with on the home turn at which point Desert Gate had rather scooted away from him, but the son of Maximus Mischief picked up in fine style late on, showing the sort of gear change not often seen on dirt.

I'm more than happy to put him up as a viable alternative to the market leaders at around 6/17.00.


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Mark Milligan avatar

Mark Milligan

Mark Milligan is a Senior Horse Racing Analyst with Timeform Sporting Life and has been contributing to Betting.Betfair since 2021.

Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.