Winning a Breeders' Cup race is the dream of any Thoroughbred trainer. Brendan Walsh is no exception.
"It would mean a lot," Walsh said. "I watched the Breeders' Cup from Ireland when I was a kid, a teenager. It was the Breeders' Cup and the (Kentucky) Derby that you always watched. And as things evolved, it was always an ambition to win a Breeders' Cup race. All the great jockeys, horses, trainers—they're all here, and it's nice to be able to compete. To actually win one, it's the holy grail. It's what everybody in the industry works for."
As of Oct. 28, Walsh is the sixth-leading trainer by earnings this year. The five trainers ahead of him have each experienced the winner's circle at the World Championships.
Heading into this year's Breeders' Cup Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland, Walsh is winless from 13 starts. His best finish came in his first Breeders' Cup in 2013 when Worldly finished third, 1 1/4 lengths back in the now-defunct Breeders' Cup Marathon (G2).
"It takes a very good horse to win it," he said. "It takes a very good horse to even arrive in one of the fields in the Breeders' Cup, and then it takes a very good horse to win it. Realistically, when I look back on it, back through the years, we probably had maybe three or four horses that would have had a realistic chance to win the race. We had a couple of favorites that things didn't work out, for one reason or another. So it's tough to win it."
East Avenue entered the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) as the favorite, but stumbled at the start and finished ninth of 10. Another of his trainees, Extravagant Kid, twice raced in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) but was unable to break through.
Looking back on what might have been does not leave Walsh with regrets. He understands as well as anyone that so much needs to go right just to have a chance at victory.
After Worldly placed in the Marathon, it was seven years until he would return to the Breeders' Cup with Extravagant Kid and Into Mystic. But Walsh's perspective kept him grounded, never assuming he would have gotten a win on the biggest stage by this point in his career.
This is the third time in five years Walsh will have three Breeders' Cup runners. He said the growing support is important to him.
"You just take it in your stride, and you just keep trying to better yourself," he said. "You try and get the better horses and have access to better stock and better riders, owners, etc. That's what we all strive for. ... I can never thank the owners enough for sending these horses to me."
This year's trio for Walsh are Lush Lips and Expensive Queen, who will challenge for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T), and Emphatic, who is the morning-line favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
"All you can do is try and prep them your best and arrive there 100%, and then it's either going to happen or it's not," Walsh said. "Whether it happens this year or hopefully some other year, you'd like to win a few of them if it was possible. It's what everyone wants to win, and it'll be super to win one."
