Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Accelerate will feel right at home

Accelerate, Mor Spirit, and Sharp Azteca were among 16 horses pre-entered Monday in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile – with seven of those runners also pre-entered in either the Classic, Mile on turf, or Sprint.

The Dirt Mile will be limited to a field of 14 starters when it is run Nov. 3 at Del Mar. The two-turn race also can carry two also-eligibles. Final entries are Monday.

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Accelerate has been made the early 7-2 favorite over Metropolitan Handicap hero Mor Spirit (4-1) and Kelso winner Sharp Azteca (5-1) on a line set by Daily Racing Form handicapper Brad Free. Accelerate will come into the Dirt Mile off the two best Beyer Speed Figures of his career, a 109 for his win over the Classic-bound Arrogate in the San Diego and a 110 for his third-place finish in the Pacific Classic. He was with the pace in both races. The starts were his first in blinkers.

“I think it’s been a good thing for him because he had a tendency in the past to lollygag the first part,” said John Sadler, who trains Accelerate. “Being too far out of it just doesn’t work here in California. Putting blinkers on him put him back up in the first part of the race.”

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Cupid is among the seven pre-entered in other races. He is in the Classic, but the 1 1/4-mile race is his second preference in a non-binding designation announced by Breeders’ Cup on Wednesday. The Classic, which drew 14 pre-entries, is the first preference for both War Decree and Win the Space.

Mind Your Biscuits was a surprise on the Dirt Mile list, but his first preference is the Sprint, which drew 11. Practical Joke also was pre-entered in the Sprint, with his first preference the Dirt Mile. Lancaster Bomber’s first preference is the Mile on turf, and he was selected into the field among the 21 pre-entered. Midnight Storm also is pre-entered in the Mile and while he was not in the field, he is second on the also-eligible preference list released by Breeders’ Cup.

Midnight Storm is a graded winner on Del Mar’s dirt and turf surfaces and if he goes in the Dirt Mile he will be cutting back in distance off a pacesetting, runner-up finish in the Awesome Again at nine furlongs on the main track at Santa Anita.

“I thought his last race was a really good race going a mile and an eighth,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “Shortening up that extra eighth of a mile, he might have more of a punch. He’s shown he can be versatile. He does not need the lead. He can stalk and pounce, especially going a mile.”

The other Dirt Mile pre-entrants were Awesome Slew, Battle of Midway, Gato Del Oro, Giant Expectations, Imperative, and Iron Fist. (Win the Space and Gato Del Oro were not selected into the field and listed in that preference order, according to Breeders’ Cup.)

Giant Expectations and Mor Spirit earned berths into the Dirt Mile with their respective victories in the Pat O’Brien and Met Mile. Giant Expectations will be stretching out from six furlongs for the Dirt Mile.

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“I think it puts him in a forward, stalking position,” trainer Peter Eurton said.

The Dirt Mile goes as the seventh race on Breeders’ Cup Friday, with a post of 3:05 p.m. Pacific.