Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: An overflow field, but one in flux
An overflow cast of 23 was announced Wednesday as pre-entries for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, which has a maximum starting field of 12, leaving nearly half the runners on the outside looking in. But several runners in the original main body of the field are headed in other directions, which will give at least three who didn’t make the original top 12 likely starting berths by Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
C Z Rocket and Vekoma won Win and You’re In preps for the Dirt Mile, but both are expected to start in the six-furlong Sprint, for which they also were pre-entered and had designated as their first choice. In addition, Global Campaign, also part of the top 12, is expected to go in the 1 1/4-mile Classic. That means Pirate’s Punch, Jesus’ Team, and Mr. Money – originally on the outside looking in – all should get in by the time posts are drawn Monday after final entries are submitted.
Most Breeders’ Cup races have maximum fields of 14, but the Dirt Mile is limited to 12 owing to the abrupt run to the first turn. At Keeneland, which is 1 1/16 miles in circumference, the Dirt Mile starts at the regular finish line and ends at what is the sixteenth pole for races other than those at one mile.
Under Breeders’ Cup rules, in cases where more than the maximum number of starters are pre-entered in a race, half the field – in the Dirt Mile’s case, six – is determined by horses who won Win and You’re In races plus those who earned the most points in graded stakes races during the year. After the first two spots were claimed by C Z Rocket and Vekoma, the four horses who got in on points were Complexity, Mr Freeze, Rushie, and Silver Dust.
The remaining 17 runners were ranked in order of preference by an international panel of racing officials. The six from the panel who made the cut to be placed in the top 12 for the field were Art Collector, Global Campaign, Knicks Go, Owendale, Sharp Samurai, and War of Will, the 2019 Preakness winner.
Pirate’s Punch, Jesus’ Team, and Mr. Money were next in the rankings. True Timber is now on the bubble, followed by Hog Creek Hustle, Bodexpress, Nashville, Midnight Sands, Jasper Prince, Bon Raison, and Pingxiang, in that order.
Hog Creek Hustle, Nashville, and Jasper Prince – an invader from Japan – also were pre-entered in the Sprint, which is their first preference, and all got into the main body of that race, so those three are all expected to wind up there.
Complexity, winner of the Grade 2 Kelso in his last start Oct. 3 at Belmont Park, is the 3-1 favorite on the current line of Brad Free of Daily Racing Form.
Liam’s Map won the Dirt Mile the only other time the Breeders’ Cup was held at Keeneland, in 2015.