The Friday Show Presented By Breeders’ Cup: Hoping To ‘Raise The Bar’ With Our Handicapping

If trainer Bob Baffert can do it, so can we. Days after the Hall of Famer pledged to “raise the bar” in hopes that his high-powered stable can avoid any more failed drug tests (Baffert has had four of them them in three states this year), the Paulick Report gang is inspired to up our game, too. Full disclosure: publisher Ray Paulick is the only known Paulick Report staffer to have flunked a drug test, and the statute of limitations on that transgression have long passed.

We haven’t hired any spinmeisters, lawyers or veterinarians, but we’ve consulted with some of the smartest people we know to help us unravel the daunting handicapping challenges that lie ahead in the five Future Stars Friday races and nine championship events on Saturday that comprise this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

The aforementioned Paulick, along with editor in chief Natalie Voss, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills and news editor and pony rider to the European stars Chelsea Hackbarth share their astute observations about this year’s Breeders’ Cup. We think they’re astute, but it just might be the scopolamine talking.

If that’s not enough, track announcer Larry Collmus, who will call the Breeders’ Cup for NBC Sports, offers some insights into how he prepares for this big event and recounts a past race call that caused him to age several years in a matter of minutes.

You don’t want to miss this week’s Friday Show.