Nearly 200 horses were pre-entered for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races next week at Del Mar, including eight winners from last year and eight from beleaguered Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Pre-entries were due Monday, with the official announcement coming Wednesday morning. (See all 14 races here.) Before the morning was out, however, came news from trainer Aidan O’Brien that one of last year’s winners, Mile champion Order of Australia, suffered a setback in training and will not be coming to Del Mar.
As in recent years, all five races exclusively for 2-year-olds will be held Friday, Nov. 5, highlighted by the Juvenile, which often determines the early Kentucky Derby favorite for next year.
The other nine Breeders’ Cup races will be held Saturday, Nov. 6, capped by the $6 million Classic, the richest race run each year in North America. Baffert’s Medina Spirit, the conditional winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby, is in that race along with two of last year’s Breeders’ Cup champions, Knicks Go (Dirt Mile) and Essential Quality (Juvenile). The latter two, trained by Brad Cox, are expected to be the top betting choices in the 1 1/4-mile Classic.
With the defection of Order of Australia, four of last year’s other five winners will be trying to defend their titles: Audarya (Filly & Mare Turf), Tarnawa (Turf), Glass Slippers (Turf Sprint) and Gamine (Filly & Mare Sprint). The fifth, Golden Pal, is entered in the Turf Sprint after winning the Juvenile edition of that race in 2020.
Gamine, who likely will be heaviest favorite in any race, is trained by Baffert, who has faced five medication violations in the past year, two of which were dismissed and one (Medina Spirit) that has yet to result in a charge against him. Baffert had to agree to unprecedented screening, observation and testing in order to participate in the Breeders’ Cup.
In addition to Gamine and Medina Spirit, Baffert entered three in the Juvenile, two in the Distaff and one in the Dirt Mile.
A total of 196 horses were pre-entered. Sixteen of those were named in two races, as permitted by Breeders’ Cup rules. Final entries are due Monday, at which point a horse can be in only one race. Post positions will also be drawn that day.
All the races are limited to 14 starters except for the two turf sprints, which allow 12. All seven grass races were oversubscribed, meaning not every horse who wants to run will be in the starting gate. None of the dirt races drew more than 14 entrants.
A look at the number of entries in the order in which the races will be run:
Friday
Juvenile Turf (2:50 p.m.): 19 entered.
Juvenile Fillies (3:30): 9 entered.
Juvenile Fillies Turf (4:10): 18 entered.
Juvenile (4:50): 14 entered including Baffert’s Barossa, Corniche and Pinehurst.
Juvenile Turf (5:30): 20 entered.
Saturday
Filly & Mare Sprint (12:05 p.m.): 7 including Baffert’s Gamine.
Turf Sprint (12:40): 19 entered including defending champion Glass Slippers as well as Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal.
Dirt Mile (1:19): 11 entered including Baffert’s Eight Rings.
Filly & Mare Turf (1:59): 16 entered, including defending champion Audarya.
Sprint (2:38): 12 entered.
Mile (3:20): 24 entered including defending champion Order of Australia.
Distaff (4:00): 11 entered including Baffert’s And Time Goes By and Private Mission.
Turf (4:40): 22 entered including defending champion Tarnawa.
Classic (5:40): 10 entered.
