A total of 212 horses, including three winners from a year ago, one winner from 2022, and a large international cast topped by a record 19 horses from Japan were pre-entered for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, a two-day event consisting of 14 races worth $30 million in purses to be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar in Southern California. The 212 figure is six more than the number of pre-entrants in both 2023 and 2022 and is the second most pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup behind only the 221 who were pre-entered in 2018. In between the time pre-entries were due on Monday and announced Wednesday, two horses have already been declared out – The Chosen Vron in the Sprint and Running Lion in the Filly and Mare Turf. A third horse, the Juvenile pre-entrant Dapper Moon, is expected to instead run in Sunday’s Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs. The large international presence is boosted by 19 Japan-based horses – 10 more than a year ago – and a European contingent of 54, led by a record 19 horses pre-entered by trainer Aidan O’Brien. In 2018, when the event was held at Churchill Downs, O’Brien pre-entered 18 horses, started 14, but did not win a race. :: ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save 41% off the retail price. Coincidentally, 2018 was the last year O’Brien started a horse in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. O’Brien is sending City of Troy for the Classic, which this year has a record purse of $7 million. City of Troy, a son of 2018 Triple Crown Justify, has gone 7 for 8 on turf and will be making the final start of his career in the Classic before going to stud in Ireland. The Classic, which drew 16 pre-entrants, includes a trio of Japanese runners led by Forever Young, the 3-year-old who finished third, beaten two noses, in this year’s Kentucky Derby, plus Derma Sotogake and Ushba Tesoro, who finished second and fifth, respectively, in last year’s Classic. Daily Racing Form’s Brad Free has installed City of Troy as the early 3-1 morning-line favorite. O’Brien is winless with 17 starters in the Classic but believes City of Troy is the best horse he’s brought to the race, no less the best horse he’s ever trained. “I suppose everything he did at 2 and everything he’s always done, he’s a strong traveler,” O’Brien said when asked what makes him the best horse he’s trained. “He’s always done everything right.” City of Troy’s presence in the Classic is one of the major storylines of the 41st Breeders’ Cup. Among the horses City of Troy will face is Fierceness, who last year won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita and was crowned 2-year-old champion. After a roller-coaster first half of his campaign, Fierceness has won two graded stakes in a row and is seeking to become the first Juvenile winner to win the Classic. In the Travers, at Saratoga, Fierceness defeated the filly Thorpedo Anna, a four-time Grade 1 winner this year who will make her case for Horse of the Year when she faces the 5-year-old Idiomatic in the $2 million Distaff. Idiomatic won last year’s Distaff to cap an 8-for-9 campaign, which was rewarded with an Eclipse Award for champion older dirt female. Big Evs, last year’s Juvenile Turf Sprint winner, is back for a try in the Turf Sprint. The other previous Breeders’ Cup winner is Rebel’s Romance, who won the 2022 Turf at Keeneland for Charlie Appleby. Appleby, who has seven horses pre-entered this year, has seven Breeders’ Cup wins the last three years and, overall, is 10 for 20 at the event. :: BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more O’Brien is tied with Bob Baffert and Chad Brown for second-most Breeders’ Cup wins with 18. The trio trails D. Wayne Lukas’s mark of 20. Unsurprisingly, Baffert and Brown lead the U.S.-based trainers in pre-entered horses this year with 10 apiece. This will be the third year – and first of two consecutive years – the Breeders’ Cup will be held at Del Mar, just north of San Diego. The large number of Japanese pre-entrants this year could be buoyed by the fact that two Japan-based horses – Marche Lorraine (Distaff) and Loves Only You (Filly and Mare Turf) – won at Del Mar in 2021. Both were trained by Yoshito Yahagi, who trains Forever Young. Japanese horses were pre-entered in 11 of the 14 races, missing only the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Filly and Mare Sprint, and Turf Sprint. There are 13 Japan-based trainers with pre-entrants. In addition to Forever Young in the Classic, Japan’s contingent consists of undefeated Awesome Result in the Distaff; Ecoro Sieg, who Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona has pegged as the 4-1 morning-line favorite in the Juvenile Turf Sprint; and Remake in the Sprint. The pre-entry stage was the first of two stages that will ultimately determine field composition for the 14 races. Connections could pre-enter horses in two races – 21 horses were double pre-entered – but on Monday, entry day, horses may only be entered in one. In 12 of the 14 races, fields will be capped at 14 runners, though four also-eligibles may be carded. The Juvenile Turf Sprint and Turf Sprint are both limited to 12 runners, though six also-eligibles may be carded. Ten of the 14 races were oversubscribed at the pre-entry stage. Half of the field selected into the 14 races are comprised of horses who won Breeders’ Cup Challenge races followed by those who accumulated the most points in graded stakes. There were 49 Breeders’ Cup Challenge race winners pre-entered. The remaining pre-entrants are selected into the body of the race or put on a preference list by the Breeders’ Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. There were 16 horses pre-entered in the Classic, one of the races that is limited to 14 starters. Arthur’s Ride, City of Troy, Highland Falls, and Mixto each won Breeders’ Cup Challenge races. Sierra Leone, Fierceness, and Skippylongstocking earned the most graded stakes points of the remaining pre-entrants. Skippylongstocking (Dirt Mile), Next (Turf), Senor Buscador (Dirt Mile), and Derma Sotogake (Dirt Mile), were all pre-entered in the Classic and in a second race, but the Classic was listed as their first preference. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Next, the superior dirt marathoner, was pre-entered in the Classic and the $5 million Turf, the latter a race in which he is listed as first on the preference list. Senor Buscador and Skippylongstocking were both pre-entered in the Dirt Mile and made the body of that race. Next has won seven consecutive dirt stakes, all at 1 3/8 miles or farther, by a combined 91 3/4 lengths. “I’m leaning toward the Classic,” Cowans said Wednesday Also pre-entered in the Classic were Newgate and Tapit Trice. Derma Sotogake made it into the body of this year’s Classic despite having finished fifth in all three of his starts this year. He was chosen over Pyrenees, the Grade 3 Pimlico Special winner who also finished second in two Grade 1 stakes. Pyrenees is listed as first on the preference list followed by Rattle N Roll, who is also entered in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Fayette at Keeneland. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? 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