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2007 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Colts

The Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner will become the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby next May, and for the first time in the 24 year history of the Breeders' Cup, we won't have to hear about the "Juvenile Jinx."

Street Sense won last year's running of the Juvenile, and on the first Saturday in May won the Kentucky Derby, becoming the first Juvenile winner to win both races.

One of the most memorable and breathtaking runnings of the Juvenile occurred in 1991 at Churchill Downs. Trainer Francois Boutin brought Arazi over to the U.S from France and the highly regarded colt was sent off as the 2/1 favorite.

The colt made a tremendous move around the far turn and drew clear in the stretch to win by five lengths over Bertrando.

The colt developed minor physical problems early in his three year old campaign and was a disappointing eighth in the 1992 Derby.

Hall of fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is the only trainer with more than one win in the Juvenile, winning five runnings of the race (Boston Harbor, Timber Country, Is It True, Success Express, and Capote).

Here is a look at the top contenders for this year's Juvenile:

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War Pass: The Nick Zito trainee is a perfect 3 for 3 in his career. He followed up a good looking maiden score in his debut with a win against Alw-1 optional claimers and then made his stakes debut a winning one by taking the Grade 1 Champagne on October 6 in very impressive fashion. The colt went gate to wire and earned a career top speed figure. Zito is just 1 for 29 in Breeders' Cup races, but this promising colt gives the trainer a real good shot on Saturday.

Kodiak Kowboy: This colt is a multiple stakes winner who will be routing for the first time for trainer Steve Asmussen. The colt is coming off a good second last out in the Grade 2 Futurity at Belmont Park behind Tale of Ekati, beaten a length for the top spot. The runner up finish snapped a four race win streak that included wins in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor and Grade 2 Saratoga Special. The colt has not been around two turns in his career and will need to outrun his sprint oriented pedigree, but the colt has shown flashes of some serious talent and is in good hands with trainer Steve Asmussen, who is very good with two year olds.

Tale of Ekati: This colt is trained by Barclay Tagg, the trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide. Tagg is having a very strong year and is having a good meeting in New York where he is hitting at a 27% clip. This colt was simply brilliant in his debut, drawing clear to win by 8 ¼ lengths in good time. He finished second in his stakes debut in the Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga. The colt followed that up with a victory in the Grade 2 Futurity. This colt has plenty of pedigree to handle the stretch out to 1 1/6 miles and still appears to have tons of potential.

Wicked Style: A son of 2000 Juvenile winner Macho Uno, this colt has won all three of his carer starts, all over the synthetic polytrack surface. After breaking his maiden in his debut at Arlington, he followed that up with a win in the Grade 3 Arlington Washington Futurity, then won the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at the Juvenile distance. The colt had a tough post in his last race and went gate to wire over a polytrack surface that has not been kind to speed types. While his speed figures are on the light side compared to several of the foes he will face on Saturday, this colt has the look of a runner that could move forward with another career top effort.