BC Turf (Grade 1)- $5,000.000 Purse
DMR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Half on the Turf
November 2, 2024

The best turf horses in virtual racing made their way to DMR on Saturday for the running of the BC Turf, with visions of taking home the winner’s share of the largest purse ever offered for this particular race. Even with the reigning champion of the race here, there was no clear favorite, so a wide open, entertaining affair was expected. After a mile and a half, it would be a horse that had been in seven different barns before arriving with Riggins Racing in March 2023. Grand Opening, a five-year-old gelding by Grand Sournoise would see his career take off from that point, making BC Mile last year and even further building on that this year. His 2024 saw three wins before this race, including a pair of Grade 1’s. He would go off at odds of 7/1, making him the fourth overall choice of the betting public, and gets the job done, running the race in a similar manner as he did the AP Million in August. The win is the first in the race for both Riggins Racing and jockey J R Velazquez. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 2:24.40, which is the quickest of the three races held at DMR. Let’s take a look at it now!

(½ Mile- :48.55)- The reigning BC Turf winner, King Que Niagra, out of D J C Racing Stables is one of the two quickest horses out of the gate and will take the lead around the opening turn and into the front stretch for the first time. He is joined at the front end by Smokey Stover’s Fanatical Empire, another horse who broke sharply from an outside post. After about a quarter mile, they would be joined by The Sidley Stud’s Neds Influence. There’s a group of four stalkers, and Maxmillion Farm’s Penal Hockey Party as the upper hand on them along the rail. Right beside him is the eventual winner from Riggins Racing, Grand Opening, who is in a great spot here while in the second lane while being ahead of most of the pack. Rearranger is on his outside for Mb Stables, and another Riggins horse, this being Life Is Beautiful runs in the fourth lane. Behind this group, Ziccio runs by himself for Night Rider Stables, with an approximate length and a half gap behind him. Well Done (Team 7 Illusions) and Killer Instinct (Mb Stables) are at the head of the trailing group, with Martinez (Royalty Stables) and King Z (Mb Stables) being within a length. Trailing are Cascade King (Nakamura Stables) and Albaquirky (Santan Stables).

(3/4 Mile- 1:12.70)- The race reaches its midway point with King Que Niagra still out in front and now leading by about a length on Fanatical Empire. Neds Influence either opted to not run with these two any longer or was unable to do so, as he dropped into a stalking position. Grand Opening is now running evenly with that one, and still seems to be situated in the perfect spot to strike whenever J R Velazquez decided that it was time. Penal Hockey Party and Rearranger are within a length of him, though Life Is Beautiful drops back a bit to now run with Ziccio. The gap behind them is now about two lengths, with a four wide group consisting of Well Done, Killer Instinct, King Z, and Martinez hoping to make their move later on. Cascade King and Albaquirky were a length behind them.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- King Que Niagra continues to lead down the backstretch and into the final turn as he looks to become the latest horse to win the BC Turf in back-to-back years. Grand Opening had other ideas, as he maintained a beautiful trip during the backstretch, and while possibly J R Velazquez could have decided to split him and Fanatical Empire, he took a perhaps safer route by moving him to the outside of that one. One that move was made, the progress on King Que Niagra was quicker, and while he had not quite taken over the top the spot at the top of the stretch, him grabbing the lead was inevitable at this point. However, this race was far from over, because we had some challengers coming from further back that were ready to make their own bids for the win. Killer Instinct was the quickest of them at this point and had already moved into the fourth spot. Well Done was also advancing nicely and doing so while on the rail. Even Albaquirky, who was even further back, was advancing but seemed to be having a little more traffic to contend with. If you were a fan of horses like Fanatical Empire, Rearranger, Life Is Beautiful, or Penal Hockey Party, your horse still was close enough to have a shot here but were probably screaming for them to do a little more than what they were doing at this point. Neds Influence and Ziccio dropped out of it, while King Z, Martinez, and Cascade King were looking like also-rans.

(Finish- 2:24.40)- As expected, Grand Opening takes the top spot with a little more than a furlong to go, and the story will be whether or not he could hold off the closers. Getting the closer to wire, it was looking promising as while there was some progress being made by Killer Instinct, it did not seem to be coming quickly enough. Albaquirky was looking the best in the stretch, but he had more of a deficit to make up and not enough time to do it. Grand Opening continued to run well all the way to the wire and while a late push by Killer Instinct got his supporters to hope for a split second, Grand Opening would not be denied in picking up this victory. Killer Instinct takes second, with Albaquirky running third. I was a little confused by the decision of L Dettori to move Albaquirky so far outside in the late stages of the race, but he probably would not have gotten any higher up than he did. King Que Niagra hangs on for the fourth-place check. It’s a length back to a fifth-place dead heat between Well Done, a horse that seemed destined to do a little better in the stretch at one point, and Life Is Beautiful who was way outside in the stretch. The Mb duo of Rearranger and King Z take the next spots, topping Penal Hockey Party, Fanatical Empire, Cascade King, Ziccio, Martinez, and Neds Influence.

About The Winner- Grand Opening, trained by Riggins Racing and ridden to victory by J R Velazquez, is a five-year-old gelding by Grande Sournoise and is out of Beginning Of The End. He was bred in Ontario by Team 7 Illusions as a first quarter two-year-old and passed through many barns before arriving at Riggins Racing from Tockyocky for $20.000 in a February 2023 private sale. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifteenth in 26 starts, his eighth stake win and seventh graded win. All of those stake wins are with Riggins Racing. His career earnings are now $5,844.410.

Track: Firm
Time: :48²  1:12³  2:00⁴  2:24²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 14 Paid 44.90
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 14 – 6 Paid 1,542.00

Scratched: Kidding, Violent Crime

— NS

Categories: BC 2024, Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, THE BREEDERS CUP