Thanks for all the Ask BC questions! We’re kicking things off this week with trainer Graham Motion on his juvenile contenders, Chip Woolley on Mine That Bird, and a bit of Breeders’ Cup history. For all those inquiring about handicapping and picks — please note, we’ll be posting BC360 contributors selections and best bets later this week, as well as hosting live chats during both the Friday and Saturday Breeders’ Cup cards.

The Breeders’ Cup Advance from DRF shows identical works for possible Juvenile Fillies Turf contenders Smart Seattle and Zilva on October 5, September 25, and August 28. Are these correct? How does trainer Graham Motion assess these two juveniles?

Graham Motion replies: “That’s right. Yes, [Smart Seattle and Zilva] pretty much always work together. I breeze them together; they’ve pretty much been on the same schedule and they work very well together.

“They’re pretty hard to separate, to be honest. They’re both very different types, but to me, they appear to be equally talented. I’m loathe to run them against each other. The fact that Zilva seems to handle the synthetic so well gives me a good opportunity to keep them separated.” [Zilva will likely start in the Juvenile Fillies.]

How much of a concern is the Santa Anita surface for trainer Chip Woolley when it comes to Mine That Bird’s chances in the Classic?

Chip Woolley replies: “It’s a bit of a concern, but I’m a lot more comfortable with it now. [Mine That Bird's] last two works have been real sharp, he looks real good over the ground, we got a race into him with the Goodwood. The track’s tightened up some, and that’s kind of helped him.” [Mine That Bird worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 with jockey Joe Talamo up this morning, a move Woolley praised as "perfect ... it was exactly what we were looking for."]

In the history of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, has a horse ever won the race the same year in which it broke its maiden?

Wondering if history is a knock against Zensational? For this question, we turned to Jim Gluckson, Breeders’ Cup media relations director and event historian. Gluckson suggested a few possibilities to check out via stats.breederscup.com — Very Subtle in 1987, Dancing Spree in 1989 — before confidently landing on Sheikh Albadou, the 26-1 upset winner of the 1991 Sprint at Churchill Downs. Research confirms the 3-year-old British-bred Green Desert colt, who came from off the pace to finish five lengths ahead of Pleasant Tap, is the sole horse in 25 runnings to take the Sprint the same year he exited the maiden ranks. (Sheikh Albadou has another claim to history — the Alex Scott-trainee was the first European-based horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race on dirt.) While only one horse has accomplished a maiden-to-stakes campaign capped by a win in the Sprint, at least two have done so in the Classic — Tiznow in 2000 and Curlin in 2007.

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