Baffert planning on 10 runners for Breeders' Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert plans to have as many as 10 runners in Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 2-3 at Churchill Downs, he said Sunday.

Baffert will have three runners in the BC Classic on Nov. 3 – Collected and West Coast, who were second and third in the 2017 running at Del Mar, and the 3-year-old McKinzie, who won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 22.

In 2-year-old races on Nov. 2, Baffert will have Game Winner as the likely favorite in the Juvenile and Much Better in the Juvenile Turf. Baffert plans to pre-enter Rayana in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, but the one-mile race is expected to oversubscribe, which could hurt her chances of gaining a berth.

Rayana is only a maiden winner. She missed a scheduled start in the Surfer Girl Stakes on Oct. 8 at Santa Anita because of illness.

On Nov. 3, Baffert’s other runners are Marley’s Freedom, the projected favorite in the Filly and Mare Sprint; Dream Tree in the Filly and Mare Sprint; and Abel Tasman and Vale Dori in the Distaff.

Baffert, 65, has won 14 Breeders’ Cup races. He was winless last year, but won the Classic with Arrogate and the Sprint with Drefong at Santa Anita in 2016.

Last year, trainer Peter Miller won two Breeders’ Cup races – the Sprint with Roy H and the Turf Sprint with Stormy Liberal. Those runners will be part of a team of five that Miller will send to Churchill, he said Sunday.

Aside from Roy H, the Miller-trained Distinctive B will run in the Sprint. Stormy Liberal will be joined in the Turf Sprint by two stablemates – Conquest Tsunami and Richard’s Boy, who was second in the 2017 Turf Sprint. Richard’s Boy was second in Saturday’s California Flag Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Santa Anita.

Pre-entries were due Monday.

Miller said Fly to Mars, who was second in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on Oct. 7 at Santa Anita, will skip the BC Mile in favor of the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap on Nov. 24 at Del Mar.

Belvoir Bay, a winner of three turf sprint stakes this year, will not race again until she is scheduled to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale on Nov. 4, Miller said. Belvoir Bay was under consideration for the Turf Sprint.