Saturday is a big day for Nole Ksum Racing Stable. Two horses in which the stable owns fractional shares — Bacio and Simply Joking — are both set to run on Championship Saturday at the 2026 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, with both races carrying $1 million purses and airing on NBC, USA Network, Peacock and FanDuel TV.
Simply Joking goes first.
Simply Joking — Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), Race 4, 1:10 p.m. ET (12:10 p.m. CT): The Pennsylvania-bred filly by Practical Joke breaks from post 10 in the seven-furlong dirt sprint, with Manny Franco in the saddle for trainer Michael McCarthy. She is 30-1 on the morning line in a 13-horse field, coming in off a runner-up finish in the Grade III Princess Rooney Stakes. The favorite is Chad Brown’s Ways and Means at 7-5, with Bob Baffert’s Explora next at 4-1. Franco, coming off a record-setting summer at Saratoga, has mounts in 13 of the 14 Breeders’ Cup championship races this weekend.
Bacio — Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1), Race 5, 1:48 p.m. ET (12:48 p.m. CT): Then comes the favorite. Bacio breaks from post 3 in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint with Juan Hernandez aboard for trainer Wesley Ward, and he is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in a 14-horse field. The 3-year-old colt by Maclean’s Music is 5-for-6 lifetime and rides a four-race winning streak into the race, having won the Palace of Holyroodhouse at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August — the Nunthorpe win earned him his spot through the “Win and You’re In” series. He comes home from England for his first start at Keeneland. Ward compares Bacio favorably to his past sprint stars Golden Pal and No Nay Never, and says the colt “only knows one way to go” — straight to the front. The chief threat looks like Comanche Brave at 3-1, while defending champion Shisospicy returns off a six-month break.
Two horses, two Grade 1 sprints, back-to-back on Saturday afternoon at Keeneland. For a fractional-shares stable, that’s about as good as a race day gets.
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