DEL MAR, Calif. – Essential Quality and Knicks Go are two of eight Breeders’ Cup winners from 2020 who were among those announced as pre-entries on Wednesday, but this year they are scheduled to face off in what could be an intramural battle for Horse of the Year. Essential Quality, last year’s winner of the Juvenile, and Knicks Go, who won the Dirt Mile, are among 10 horses pre-entered in the $6 million Classic, the richest and last of 14 Breeders’ Cup races that will be run Nov. 5 and 6 at Del Mar. Both are trained by Brad Cox, who won two other Breeders’ Cup races last year at Keeneland to propel him to his first Eclipse Award as champion trainer. Breeders’ Cup winners from last year set to defend their titles are Audarya in the Filly and Mare Turf, Gamine in the Filly and Mare Sprint, Glass Slippers in the Turf Sprint, and Tarnawa in the Turf. Golden Pal, who won the Juvenile Turf Sprint, will try to capture this year’s Turf Sprint. Order of Australia, who won last year’s Mile, was pre-entered for a potential title defense, but on a media teleconference Wednesday trainer Aidan O’Brien said he had had a setback that morning and would not participate. Those were among the 196 individual horses announced as pre-entries on Wednesday for the 38th Breeders’ Cup. Sixteen of the horses were pre-entered in two races, bringing the total number of pre-entries to 212. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2021: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division By comparison, 201 individual horses were pre-entered last year, and a whopping 30 cross-entered, which swelled the total pre-entries to 231. Pre-entries were due Monday, and officially announced Wednesday. At that stage, horses are allowed to be pre-entered in two races, with preferences noted. Next Monday, final entries are due prior to post positions being drawn, and at that point a horse can only be entered in one race. The only horse in the 1 1/4-mile Classic on Nov. 6 who was cross-entered was the 3-year-old Stilleto Boy, who also was put in the Dirt Mile. His trainer, Ed Moger Jr., has said that the Classic is preferred, and that was what was designated at the pre-entry stage. The Classic has a terrific mix of 3-year-olds and older horses. Essential Quality, winner of the Belmont and Travers, heads the 3-year-olds, along with Medina Spirit, the first-place finisher from the Kentucky Derby, and Hot Rod Charlie, who was second in the Belmont and most recently won the Pennsylvania Derby. Knicks Go, whose biggest wins this year came in the Pegasus World Cup and Whitney, is the leading older horse in the country. The other older horses in the race are Art Collector, winner of the Woodward; Max Player, who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup in his last start; Tripoli, who has the home-field advantage via his victory here this summer in the Pacific Classic; and Idol and Express Train, the one-two finishers, respectively, earlier this year in the Santa Anita Handicap. Daily Racing Form’s Brad Free, who set the ante-post odds for the Saturday, Nov. 6, races, has Knicks Go favored at 5-2, with Essential Quality next at 7-2. This will be the second Breeders’ Cup hosted by Del Mar, which staged a popular edition in 2017. Per usual with the Breeders’ Cup, there will be five Breeders’ Cup races on Friday, Nov. 5 – all for 2-year-olds – followed by nine on Nov. 6. Total purses for the 14 races is $28 million. The seven turf races – the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Juvenile Fillies Turf, Juvenile Turf, Turf Sprint, Filly and Mare Turf, Mile, and Turf – all attracted more than the maximum number of horses who can run in those races. In those cases, half the field in the main body of the race is made up of horses who won Win and You’re In races, plus those who earned the most points in graded stakes during the year. Everyone else is ranked in order of preference by an international panel of racing officials. :: Get everything you need with a DRF Breeders' Cup package! Includes PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. For instance, the Mile proved the most popular race, with 24 pre-entries for a race that has a maximum of 14 runners. After the top seven were determined by Win and You’re In victories (in this case three horses) and then points (four horses), seven horses were preferred by the committee, with another 10 currently on the outside looking in, listed in order of preference. At entry time next Monday, races with a maximum of 14 runners can have up to four also-eligibles, and those with a maximum of 12 runners – the Juvenile Turf Sprint and the Turf Sprint – can have up to six also-eligibles. The also-eligibles have until 8 a.m. Pacific on their respective race days to draw in. The Nov. 6 card commences with the $1 million, seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, which drew the fewest pre-entries, just seven. Gamine is 4-5 on Free’s line, the shortest price of the two-day event. In the $1 million Turf Sprint, last year’s winner Glass Slippers is ranked a 15-1 chance, with Golden Pal favored at 9-2. Nineteen were pre-entered in the Turf Sprint. With a maximum of 12 allowed to go in the five-furlong race, seven are currently excluded. The $1 million Dirt Mile has 11 pre-entered, but two have preference in other races, so the field is likely to be fewer than double digits. Life Is Good is the 8-5 favorite on Free’s line. Audarya is listed as a 10-1 shot to repeat in the $2 million, 1 3/8-mile Filly and Mare Turf, in which War Like Goddess is favored at 3-1. Tarnawa was pre-entered in this race, too, but is expected to defend her title in the Turf. There were 16 pre-entered in the Filly and Mare Turf, but with several preferring other spots, all who want to run should be able to run. Jackie’s Warrior is the 6-5 favorite among 12 pre-entered in the $2 million Sprint over six furlongs. Order of Australia, a 73-1 upset winner of last year’s $2 million Mile on turf, was 20-1 on this year’s  line prior to his being ruled out of the race. Another European raider, Space Blues, is favored, at 5-2. The committee’s selections in this race included the Japanese invader Vin de Garde, one of several Free has as his longest prices at 30-1. He was given preference over the likes of Ivar, but with Order of Australia out Ivar is in. Letruska is 8-5 on Free’s line in the $2 million Distaff, a 1 1/8-mile race in which she will seek her sixth straight win and her fifth Grade 1 victory of 2021. :: Bet the races with confidence on DRF Bets. You're one click away from the only top-rated betting platform fully integrated with exclusive data, analytics, and expert picks. The European mare Tarnawa is the 5-2 favorite in the $4 million Turf, in which she will attempt to be the first female to win that 1 1/2-mile race twice. The top American-based challenger is Domestic Spending, the second choice at 4-1. There were 22 pre-entered in the Turf, leaving eight on the also-eligibles list. The Nov. 5 card has the five Breeders’ Cup races that are exclusively for 2-year-olds. The $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint, which has 19 pre-entries, is the first of that day’s Breeders’ Cup races. David Aragona of Daily Racing Form, who made the lines for the Nov. 5 races, has Averly Jane the 3-1 favorite in the five-furlong race. Echo Zulu is the even-money favorite to stretch her speed 1 1/16 miles in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies, which drew nine pre-entries. The $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, at one mile, has 18 pre-entries, with Pizza Bianca a tepid 5-1 favorite, reflecting the wide-open nature of the race. A classic East vs. West matchup is set for the $2 million Juvenile, at 1 1/16 miles, with Champagne winner Jack Christopher, favored on Aragona’s line at 2-1, taking on American Pharoah winner Corniche. Fourteen, the maximum that can run, were pre-entered. The $2 million Juvenile Turf has 20 pre-entries for the one-mile race, with Todd Pletcher-trained Annapolis favored at 3-1 over European-based runners trained by Breeders’ Cup stalwarts Charlie Appleby and Aidan O’Brien.