ARCADIA, Calif. - Chaos in the walking ring before the first Breeders’ Cup race of 2023. Ten jockeys jumped aboard their mounts when the “riders up” call came. Two horses began taking another circuit. Jockey Tom Marquand and trainer Mick Appleby stood perplexed for a good 40 seconds as most of the field headed out to the track. There! From the other side of the crowded ring came Big Evs. Last one onto the track, Big Evs was the first one to the wire, leading a European sweep of the top three placings in the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint. “Unbelievable,” said Appleby, who was referring to the pre-race confusion but might as well have been talking about the whole experience. Appleby never had run a horse in North America, much less the Breeders’ Cup. Marquand, too, was riding in his first North American race. Big Evs probably did not even produce his best performance, but in raw margins, it was a half-length better than anyone else’s. While his humans waited, flummoxed, for their horse to show up for the race, Big Evs never turned a hair. He went back and forth to the track this week like an old pro, not a 2-year-old who had shipped from England, and handled the cramped paddock and the crowd in the ring Friday without turning a hair. A smallish horse with an even temperament – and wicked speed. Pressing Crimson Advocate, who had made the lead from the rail, through a blazing quarter-mile in 20.71 seconds, Big Evs took the lead at the three-sixteenths pole and held firm through a half-mile in 43.65. Even after that very strong pace, Big Evs went his final furlong in 11.66, just enough to hold off a massive wide run from Valiant Force. :: Breeders' Cup Shop: DRF Past Performances available now Still just 10th at the stretch call, Valiant Force, a 23-1 shot, came like a freight train toward the wire but came up just short while besting 24-1 Starlust, who got a nice trip under Frankie Dettori. The top three home all shipped from England. After American horses had won the first four renewals of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Big Evs became the second overseas winner following Mischief Magic. Big Evs clocked 55.31 for five furlongs over a fast course, paid $8.40 as the second choice, and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 85. No Nay Mets, a speedy colt who stalked the pace Friday, was the first American horse home, finishing fourth, three-quarters of a length ahead of Shards, who encountered compromising homestretch traffic. Then came Crimson Advocate, tiring after hooking up with Big Evs, Committee of One, Cherry Blossom, Slider, Amidst Waves, Asean, and Tiger Belle. Givemethebeatboys was scratched Friday morning, allowing Asean to run. Big Evs, a colt by Blue Point out of Hana Lina, by Oasis Dream, campaigns for RP Racing and was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock. Defeated in his debut, Big Evs won the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot and the Group 3 Molecomb at Goodwood, at which point Appleby began thinking of Santa Anita. Big Evs ran well below form facing older horses in the Group 1 Nunthorpe, a performance Appleby attributed to a 23-day turnaround following a tough slog through soft going at Goodwood, but rebounded with a brilliant score Sept. 15 in the Flying Childers Stakes. The Flying Childers made two races Big Evs had won over soft ground, and Big Evs, Appleby contended last week, is a fast-ground horse. Big Evs had shown rare gate speed for a European horse, but he broke worse Friday than he had in any race save the Nunthorpe. “English gate speed is very different from American gate speed, and we were just hoping he’d be fast enough,” Marquand said. “He did break half a length slower than he usually does.” Another European, Tiger Belle, broke sharply and after a furlong Big Evs was stacked three deep outside she and Crimson Advocate. Marquand got his mount past Tiger Belle and Big Evs stuck with Crimson Advocate despite struggling to negotiate a turn for the first time in a race. “Going around the bend wasn’t the smoothest, but he got it done,” Marquand said. While Big Evs was rolling up front, Valiant Force raced wide around the turn near the back of the pack after breaking from post 10. Straightening into the homestretch, he gathered himself and finished ferociously. “He was drawn a bit wide. He jumped well, but he just took a few strides to gather himself,” said jockey William Buick. “There was one horse I didn’t think would come back, and that was the one who beat me.” :: Get Breeders' Cup Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team when you purchase a BC VIP Package! Valiant Force is owned by Amo Racing USA, which runs horses in America, and the colt is expected to stay here, perhaps to try dirt, Buick said. Starlust had the weakest form of the Europeans but, unlike the rest of them, had run around turns; he ran the best race of his life. Appleby long has run a successful operation and is a perennial leading trainer on the winter all-weather circuit. He had shipped horses to the Middle East before but took on a new challenge targeting the Juvenile Turf Sprint. Big Evs will get a winter break. Appleby said he wasn’t sure what 2024 would bring, other than short sprints. “He’s all speed,” he said. And even after being briefly lost, Big Evs can find his way to the wire. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.