When the Breeders’ Cup was held at Del Mar four years ago, trainer Brad Cox was largely on the outside looking in. His lone runners in graded stakes that weekend were horses in the three undercard stakes on the Saturday program. One finished sixth in a 10-horse field, the other two were 12th in 14-horse fields. He didn’t have a single runner in any of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races. His fortunes have changed a tad since then. Cox, the defending Eclipse Award-winning trainer, heads into this year’s Breeders’ Cup with a potential intramural squabble for Horse of the Year, with his older horse Knicks Go and the top 3-year-old Essential Quality – both leaders of their respective divisions – heading up the prospective field for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6. The Classic will be the last of 14 Breeders’ Cup races to be run Nov. 5 and 6 at Del Mar, with the five races for 2-year-olds Friday, the nine for 3-year-olds and up Saturday. A bit more than five weeks out, the Classic is shaping up as a terrific race, with a full field that will feature a compelling matchup between an above-average group of 3-year-olds taking on elders, in many cases for the first time. Knicks Go, last year’s winner of the Dirt Mile, is scheduled for his final prep on Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $400,000 Lukas Classic. The once-beaten Essential Quality, who won the Travers Stakes in his last start, is training straight up to the Classic. Both horses will do all their serious work at Churchill Downs, with Cox on Wednesday morning saying he plans to ship to Del Mar “as late as possible.” “November 1st is when I understand the last plane will go,” he said. The Lukas Classic is one of three races on Saturday that have potential implications for the Classic. Only five were entered to take on Knicks Go: Chess Chief, Independence Hall, Shared Sense, Sprawl, and Tacitus, who is making his first start since February. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2021: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division At Belmont Park, Art Collector, Dr Post, and Maxfield are among those in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes. Code of Honor and Forza di Oro are also expected for the Woodward, but neither is likely to press on to the Classic. And at Santa Anita, Medina Spirit – the first-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby – takes on Tripoli and Tizamagician – the one-two finishers in the Pacific Classic – and Santa Anita Handicap winner Idol in the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again. Azul Coast, Express Train, Midcourt, and the 3-year-old Stilleto Boy are also expected. The Lukas Classic, Awesome Again, and Woodward are all at 1 1/8 miles. The Classic is at 1 1/4 miles. The Awesome Again is the last of the nine races offering a fees-paid berth in the Classic to the winner. Knicks Go (who earned a Classic berth in the Whitney), Maxfield (Stephen Foster), and Tripoli (Pacific Classic) – all running Saturday – are already guaranteed berths. Max Player – who won a pair of Win and You’re In races, the Suburban and Jockey Club Gold Cup – is training up to the Classic and already is based on the West Coast, at Santa Anita. Steve Asmussen, his trainer, utilized a similar strategy four years ago with Gun Runner, who subsequently won that year’s Classic at Del Mar. The Japan-based Cafe Pharoah (February Stakes) is not coming, according to Kate Hunter, the authoritative Breeders’ Cup representative based out of Japan. Mandaloun (winner via disqualification in the Haskell), another Cox trainee, was taken out of training during the summer and is being rested for a 4-year-old campaign. Mishriff (Juddmonte International), slated to run at Ascot in the Champions Stakes in two weeks, is “aiming for the Turf, not the Classic,” trainer John Gosden informed in a text this week. The Classic has a maximum field of 14, and more than 14 potential starters, including Happy Saver, the Todd Pletcher trainee who was second to Max Player in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Like Max Player, he will not have another prep before the Classic. That was planned even before Happy Saver had to have a recent quarter crack addressed. Hot Rod Charlie, who won the Pennsylvania Derby last Saturday, also is done with his preps. As with Essential Quality, he will be facing elders for the first time in the Classic. Brad Free of Daily Racing Form has Knicks Go the 5-2 favorite for the Classic, with Essential Quality next at 7-2. Free has Max Player as the third choice at 5-1, followed by Hot Rod Charlie at 6-1, then Maxfield at 8-1. Everyone else is double digits. Free’s other favorites for the Saturday races are defending champion Gamine (even money) in the Filly and Mare Sprint, Jackie’s Warrior (2-1) in the Sprint, Letruska (2-1) in the Distaff, Life Is Good (3-1) in the Dirt Mile, defending race winner Tarnawa (3-1) in the Turf, Palace Pier (7 -2) in the Mile on turf, Golden Pal (7-2) in the Turf Sprint, and War Like Goddess (7-2) in the Filly and Mare Turf. Gamine worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds on Wednesday morning at Santa Anita. Echo Zulu (5-2), who heads the prospective field for the Juvenile Fillies, is the shortest price of the favorites for the five Friday races for 2-year-olds on the lines set by David Aragona of Daily Racing Form. Aragona’s other favorites are Wild Beauty (7-2) in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Twilight Gleaming (7-2) in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Corniche (4-1) in the Juvenile, and Albahr (9-2) in the Juvenile Turf. This will be the 38th Breeders’ Cup, which was inaugurated in 1984, and the second to be hosted by Del Mar. – additional reporting by David Grening