Champion Hurdle favourite Samcro the main draw on a day full of future stars

Who’d have thought it? Churchill Downs and Flemington have suddenly lost (some of) their appeal.

The Breeders' Cup, richest two-day meeting in the world, kicks off tonight and the Melbourne Cup, the race that by legend stops a nation, is run on Tuesday.

But being at either means you probably can't be at Down Royal this afternoon.

Friday's cards and betting

Although that would not usually be regarded as a huge sacrifice, this is not a usual day and there will be plenty of racing folk in Kentucky or Victoria ruing the fact they're not in Northern Ireland.

That's because even the most steely professional is, deep down, a sucker for a good horse – and Samcro could be one of the very best.

The swaggering, charismatic six-year-old certainly captured the public imagination as a novice hurdler last season.

That is why Monday's announcement that he was being aimed at the Champion Hurdle caused him to be made favourite almost immediately, supplanting Buveur D'Air who has actually won the race the last two times.

The first clue as to whether that was a wise analysis of his prospects or bookmaker hype comes when he lines up in the WKD Hurdle on Friday afternoon.

Championship clues may be thinner on the ground at Wetherby, though the £25,000 Weatherbys Hamilton Wensleydale Juvenile Hurdle is a decent prize for an early season three-year-old.

That's dwarfed by the $28 million on offer at the Breeders' Cup, which kicks off with 'Future Stars Friday'.

But victory for Well Done Fox in the Juvenile Turf Sprint would mean more than money. How poignant would success be for a horse owned by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who was so tragically killed in a helicopter crash last Saturday?

Sam, Sam, the door is open wide to hurdling glory

It’s been the question of the age, the compelling, knife-edge dilemma that has dominated discussion for as long as anyone can remember and divided opinion down the middle.

Remain won this time and Samcro stays over hurdles rather than leaving for fences, to the dismay of exiteers who see him as a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner in the making.

Yet, such is the excitement the Gigginstown phenomenon created in his novice campaign that adherents would suggest he could do a Dawn Run and land a Champion Hurdle on the way to the chasing crown.

For that to be anything more than a romantic dream, Gordon Elliott’s stable star needs to land Friday's WKD Hurdle, a Grade 2 event in which Jezki launched his Champion Hurdle-winning season in 2013.

Call up for the Cup

The most obvious future star on 'Future Stars Friday' at the Breeders’ Cup is the man who could well win the first of the Breeders' Cup races.

Archie Watson is a young trainer in a hurry, closing in on a century of winners in just his second full season and landing his first Group 3 and then Group 2 victories with Soldier's Call.

His speedy juvenile ran a blinder against older rivals when third in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp and is ideally drawn for an attacking ride from the front in stall two for the Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday.

But most popular bet will probably be the unbeaten Game Winner, whose Californian trainer Bob Baffert has done little to play down expectations ahead of the Juvenile.

"He’s a beautiful horse," said the man who has won this race three times. "I’m pretty happy with the way he has come along. He looks like a really good horse. It’s like a man against boys."

Punters beware

Wetherby's Listed Wensleydale Juvenile Hurdle comes plenty early in the season for a three-year-old, yet it has still thrown up its own future stars.

Countrywide Flame went on to land the Triumph Hurdle in 2012 and Sceau Royal is now a Grade 1-winning chaser.

But punters beware: that pair were both beaten in this race, which is probably best remembered in recent years for Maoi Chinn Tire’s 200-1 shock success for Jennie Candlish in 2010.

Statistic of the day

Seven of the last ten runnings of the Heath Court Hotel Conditions Stakes for two and three-year-olds at Newmarket have been won by a juvenile.

Watson is the go-to guy

This time last year Jason Watson was a virtual unknown with just one winner to his name.

Twelve months on he's the champion apprentice, he's won more than 100 races and he's becoming a go-to guy when a top trainer needs a jockey.

On Friday he gets the call from Michael Bell for just the second time and has been handed a leading chance in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF 'Bosra Sham' Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket.

His mount Lady Aria went close in Group 3 company at Salisbury and looked ripe for a step back up in class when an easy winner at Haydock last month.

No close shave at Uttoxeter

Whatever the Breeders' Cup may claim, this has certainly been future stars Friday at Uttoxeter.

Bristol de Mai, Top Notch, Charbel and Garde La Victoire are among the big names to have made their debuts over fences in the Kalahari King Beginners' Chase in the last three years.

Smart hurdlers Chesterfield and Claimantakinforgan are in a quality field on Friday afternoon, when following in famous hoofprints is not the only prestigious honour up for grabs.

To mark 'Gentlemen’s Day' there is a best-turned-out prize with a difference. The man (one assumes) with the best groomed beard will win a free £50 bet, £100 of electrical goods from a local shop and a spa day for two at Alton Towers.

It's a shame Brighton legend Roy Rocket never made a hurdler or John Berry, racing's most famously facially-haired trainer, could have cleaned up.

They've all lost out by a whisker but why do so few jockeys have beards?

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