Horse Racing Fantasy Community

He crushed the field in the Lane's End Breeders' Futurity!

Square Eddie was far from the favorite to win the annual Breeders' Futurity at Lexington, KY's Keeneland racetrack. Sent off at 9-1, the sixth choice in an eleven-horse field, this chestnut colt had started all four of his previous races in England. Entering the race with a lukewarm record of 1 win, 1 place, and 1 show in his 4 starts, this maternal grandson of the great Northern Dancer stalked the pace early and then drew away with ease to earn an automatic berth in the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile, which features a purse of $2 million.

Offering an attractive purse of $500,000 and part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series (in which the winners earn automatic spots in the various Breeders' Cup Championship races; for instance, with his win in this years' Jockey Club Gold Cup, Curlin won his spot in this year's Breeders' Cup Classic), the Breeders' Futurity has been run at Keeneland since 1938. Originally called The Futurity, the race was run at six furlongs from 1938-49, seven furlongs from 1950-55, the very curious distance of seven furlongs, 184 feet from 1956-80, and has been run at it's current distance of a mile and one-sixteenth since 1981. It's Graded Stakes history has been much shorter: A Grade III race from 1973-75, it was bumped up to Grade II from 1976-03, and has only been a Grade I event since 2004.

Square Eddie was only recently purchased by Reddam, then moved into the barn of respected trainer Doug O’Neill the week of the race. O’Neill was so busy, he didn't even get a chance to see his new colt until a few hours before post-time. Well, he'll be seeing plenty of him now!

At Horse Racing Fantasy, we're going to be keeping a sharp eye on Square Eddie. A good showing, but especially a victory, will make him a lock for our game. Wouldn't if be fun to saddle him up and ride him in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile? We think that just might be the case; we'll just have to wait and see!