Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Defections may help field reach 12-horse limit

Headed by eight Grade 1 and Group 1 winners, an oversubscribed group of 15 horses – three more than the maximum number of allowed starters – were pre-entered for the seventh running of the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, to be run Friday, Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

[BREEDERS’ CUP 2013: See DRF’s top contenders]

A maximum of 14 starters are allowed in each of the Breeders’ Cup races with the notable exception of the Dirt Mile, which is once around Santa Anita’s main track and limited to 12 owing to a short run to the first turn. The selection process ranks horses in order of preference based on wins in Breeders’ Cup Challenge races first, a graded-stakes point system second, and a panel of racing directors and/or secretaries third. The first two criteria assign a maximum of six horses, with the rest ranked by the panel. There can be up to two also-eligible horses when final entries take place Monday, Oct. 28.

Two horses, Graydar and Laugh Track, were pre-entered in other races.

On Sept. 28, Graydar earned an automatic berth to the Dirt Mile by winning the Kelso Invitational in his first start since late March, but his first preference is the Classic. The second of Graydar’s three scheduled workouts since the Kelso took place Saturday, when he breezed five furlongs in 1:01.67 in company with Fantasy of Flight, finishing the last quarter in 25 seconds.

“Graydar…was good and galloped out well, so he’s had two of the three breezes we were looking for to go to the Classic,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, whose high-profile contender Verrazano is among four 3-year-olds pre-entered for the Dirt Mile, along with Broadway Empire, Goldencents, and Holy Lute.

Laugh Track, a synthetic specialist whose only dirt start was a fifth in the Grade 2 Alysheba back on May 3, was also pre-entered in the Sprint, but has first preference in the Dirt Mile.

Laugh Track, second in the Oct. 4 Phoenix off a four-month absence, is among four horses trying to become the first to stretch out successfully in the Dirt Mile. The others are Goldencents, whose 109 Beyer Speed Figure for a fast-closing second in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship is the top last-out Beyer among the pre-entrants; and Centralinteligence and Fed Biz, who earned fees-paid berths for their respective wins in the Triple Bend Handicap and the Pat O’Brien at seven furlongs.

Centralinteligence was re-routed from the Sprint after a dull return in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

Fed Biz will have been idle for 67 days between the Pat O’Brien and the Dirt Mile – or one day fewer than Verrazano, who last ran Aug. 24 when seventh in the Travers.

Prior to the Travers, Verrazano earned a 116 Beyer for his Haskell victory, which equaled the second-fastest figure run in North American this year behind Game On Dude’s 117 in the Santa Anita Handicap.

The average Beyer for the first six Dirt Mile winners, none of whom were favored, is 107.5, ranging from a low of 102 (Albertus Maximus) to a high of 119 (Corinthian).