Breeders' Cup Classic: Big 3 make for quite a race

American Pharoah already has swept the Triple Crown, Beholder already has won a pair of Eclipse Awards, and Honor Code likely has sewn up his first divisional title. One thing they’ve not already done, though, is race against one another, and that’s the most tantalizing aspect of this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic specifically and this year’s Breeders’ Cup in general.

All three were born within a 20-mile radius of Lexington, Ky., so it’s only fitting that they will be at Keeneland for the first Breeders’ Cup ever run at that historic track. This will be the 32nd Breeders’ Cup event and the ninth held in the commonwealth of Kentucky, but this will be the first Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky not held at Churchill Downs.

Special accommodations have been made to hold the event at Keeneland, both in the stands and on the track. Keeneland is a far smaller facility than Churchill Downs or Santa Anita – which played host to the event the past three years – so ontrack seating and general admission are both capped. And because Keeneland’s main track is 1 1/16 miles in circumference, two finish lines will be used, with the Dirt Mile, Juvenile, and Juvenile Fillies ending at the sixteenth pole. In addition, the Filly and Mare Turf will be shortened to 1 3/16 miles for the first time; it previously had been run at either 1 1/4 miles or 1 3/8 miles.

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This year’s event will be held Oct. 30-31, with 13 races worth $24.5 million spread over two days. Four races – the Juvenile Turf, Dirt Mile, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Distaff – are on Friday, and the remaining nine – the Juvenile Fillies, Filly and Mare Turf, Filly and Mare Sprint, Turf Sprint, Juvenile, Turf, Sprint, Mile, and Classic – are on Saturday, which is Halloween.

Trick or treat? If the Classic field holds together, it’ll be some treat.

In addition to American Pharoah, Beholder, and Honor Code, other top contenders for the Classic currently include Frosted, Keen Ice, Liam’s Map, Tonalist, and the European challenger Gleneagles, who lately has made more headlines for the races he’s missed than the ones he’s run in.

The Classic will be the final Breeders’ Cup race of the 13 run that weekend, and at $5 million, it’s the richest.

American Pharoah (via the Haskell Invitational), Beholder (Pacific Classic), and Honor Code (Whitney) already have earned fees-paid berths to the Classic through the Win and You’re In program. So too has Hard Aces, who is assured of a spot in the Classic via his win in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita back in June. Hard Aces is scheduled to run on Saturday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again at Santa Anita, one of two remaining Win and You’re In races for the Classic. The other is the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 3 at Belmont Park.

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“If he runs well, we’re going on,” said John Sadler, who trains Hard Aces. “You’re in for free, so why not for a $5 million purse?”

The Awesome Again could prove a pivotal race for Bayern, who won last year’s Classic but is winless since.

“It’s a make-or-break race for him,” said his trainer, Bob Baffert, who also trains American Pharoah. “He’s got to show us something.”

Baffert said he also will run Hoppertunity in the Awesome Again.

Richard Mandella, who trains Beholder, was planning on entering Catch a Flight in the Awesome Again but said on Wednesday that Catch a Flight would skip the race.

Catch a Flight “came up a little sore,” Mandella said. “We’re trying to figure it out.”

Beholder, who likely has secured yet another Eclipse Award as champion older female, is scheduled to run on Saturday at Santa Anita, but against fellow fillies and mares in the Zenyatta. Mandella reiterated, though, that the Classic is still the Breeders’ Cup goal for Beholder, whose only prior start against males was her runaway win in the Pacific Classic.

Honor Code, the clear front-runner for champion older male, will have one more prep but will turn back to a mile for the Kelso on the Jockey Club Gold Cup undercard Oct. 3. His rivals are expected to include Red Vine, who could go to the Classic or, more likely, the Dirt Mile.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup is expected to include Tonalist and Wicked Strong.

American Pharoah – who already has wrapped up the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male and, quite possibly, Horse of the Year – will not have another prep race, which would mean he would come into the 1 1/4-mile Classic not having raced since the Travers, a layoff of nine weeks. It also would be his first start against elders.

The Classic is scheduled to be the final start of American Pharoah’s career. He will be retired to stud at Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud, just down the road from Keeneland in Versailles.

– additional reporting by Steve Andersen and David Grening