Breeders Cup Sprint: Last year's second makes record-breaking return – yet can be backed at 16/1

This is a flash article due to the brief window of opportunity.

British and Irish bookmakers have much bigger things on their minds this weekend than the Breeders Cup, and the very little market activity that has taken place since last night's action stateside has revolved around Notable Speech's chances in the Breeders Cup Mile after his facile victory at Woodbine over a very weak field.

But further south on the North American continent in Kentucky, something rather special was happening at more or less the same time at Churchill Downs racecourse. Specifically, the Thoroughbred Society Stakes, a sprint on the dirt track over six furlongs, featuring the return of top sprinter Bentornato. This was the up-and-coming sprinter last year who found only Straight No Chaser too good (to the tune of half a length) in last year's Breeders Cup Sprint at Del Mar.

In this return race, which featured precisely the kind of wicked fast pace that we can expect to see on 1 November at Del Mar, Bentornato won by more than five lengths in 1:08.43, lowering the stakes record at the track by more than a quarter of a second. The multiple other six-furlong races in the card were all run in more than 1:10, while the other stakes sprint on the card, the Open Mind stakes over 6.5 furlongs, was run in 1:16.14 (six-furlong mark reached in 1:09.79), which only underlines the scale of Bentornato's achievement.

We expect Jose de Angelo's charge to go to Del Mar either as favourite or close to that status, in low single figures. The sprint division in the US has no depth at all at the moment, and his two big rivals – Book 'Em Danno and Straight No Chaser – both have big question marks over them. The former is a doubt to even turn up for the race (with trainer Derk Ryan expressing reluctance to ship his gelding out West for the Breeders Cup extravaganza), while the latter has not seen a racetrack since flopping in Dubai in early April.

Bentornato is only a four-year-old and is in the form of his life. He has a decent chance of winning if both those rivals turn up. In their absence, he will surely be the overwhelming favourite.

The AntePoster expects the trading teams that have not moved his price since last night to act swiftly either today or tomorrow at the latest. The still available 16/1 is an extraordinary price. We would price Bentornato up as no bigger than 5/1, but could easily envisage him starting much shorter than that depending on developments. Recommendation: Back Bentornato at 16/1 with Paddy Power, Skybet, Unibet, BetMGM or Virginbet to win the Breeders Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Saturday 1 November. Win only.

[For those who read this too late to get the 16/1 available at the time of writing, anything in double figure is terrific value]