Accelerate wins the 2018 Breeders Cup

Favorites won the final 3 races on Saturday at Churchill Downs

Saturday was a big day for favorites at the 2018 Breeders’ Cup, especially down the stretch on the second of two packed days of horse racing at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Favorites won the final three races, culminating with Accelerate winning the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Accelerate was a 5-2 favorite in the Classic and lived up to his name with a tremendous stretch run to overtake Gunnevera and Thunder Snow to win.

The field for the Classic was weakened when Triple Crown winner Justify retired in July, with an ankle injury preventing the champion from vying for the grand slam of thoroughbred racing.

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Earlier, Enable was an even-money favorite in the $4 million Turf on Saturday, and had to hold off a charge from Magical down the stretch to capture the 1½-mile race.

In the $2 million Distaff, Monomy Girl was a 2-1 favorite and cruised to a win in the 1⅛-mile race, earning her fifth Grade 1 victory.

“She ran the way she was training. She was training like a monster and she ran like a monster,” trainer Brad Cox said of Monomy Girl. “She is a special filly, one of a kind, an unbelievable filly.”

Among the 14 winners on Friday and Saturday, two were repeat winners from 2017. Stormy Liberal won the 5½-furlong Turf Sprint, and Roy H captured the 6-furlong Sprint on Saturday.

Breeders’ Cup preview

The 35th iteration of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be held from the prestigious Churchill Downs in Louisville, and this year’s action promises to be as exciting as usual. There will be 14 races, all but one of which are Grade I stakes races, taking place on Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3.

Race action will be televised by NBCSN on Friday and early Saturday, while coverage of the bigger races will be carried by NBC, with live streaming of all action available via NBC Sports. Coverage on Friday begins at 3 p.m. ET, while coverage on Saturday begins at 12 noon and continues at 3:30 p.m. on NBC.

The biggest races, the Mile, Distaff, Turf and Classic, will all be broadcast on NBC, with the rest of the action on NBCSN. The final race, the Classic, has a total purse of $6 million, and marks what many consider to be the “end” of the North American horse racing season, though there are still some other races on the calendar in November and December.

Unfortunately, the festivities will not be featuring Justify, the Triple Crown champion, who was retired in July. This will be the ninth time that Churchill Downs has hosted the Breeders’ Cup, and the venue underwent a $70 million renovation/upgrade to its facilities to accommodate the size and scope of the Breeders’ Cup.

This year, the Friday card is dubbed “Future Stars Friday”, and featured five juvenile races. The only race that is not a Grade I stakes event is the Juvenile Turf Sprint, the opening race of the slate.

Below is all you need to know to watch the action, and below that is the full list of races.

All times ET.

How to watch the 2018 Breeders’ Cup

Date: November 2nd-3rd

Time: 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m. (Friday), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Saturday)

TV: NBCSN, NBC

Online Streaming: NBC Sports, fuboTV