Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Small field likely

Twelve horses have been pre-entered in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, led by probable favorite Dortmund and champion Runhappy, but the race could wind up with a field of just seven when it’s run Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Bradester has been withdrawn from consideration and will run in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, according to trainer Eddie Kenneally. Gun Runner, Midnight Storm, Vyjack, and War Story have listed other races as their first preference, according to a rundown of pre-entered Breeders’ Cup fields announced Wednesday.

If there are five defections, it would make for the smallest Dirt Mile field in the history of the race, which was inaugurated in 2007. There were eight starters in the first Dirt Mile, where Corinthian captured the race at Monmouth Park. Last year, Liam’s Map defeated 10.

Gun Runner and War Story have the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 listed as their first preference in the pre-entry stage but are not bound by the designation. They even could enter both the Classic and Dirt Mile when final entries are taken Monday, according to Breeders’ Cup rules, because the races are run on separate days and neither will be oversubscribed. (The maximum gate for the Dirt Mile is 12 and for the Classic, 14.)

The same might not end up applying for Midnight Storm and Vyjack, who both have first preference listed as the $2 million Mile on turf Nov. 5, as that race drew 23 pre-entries. (Vyjack was not selected for the Mile field and is third on the preference list announced Wednesday.)

The Dirt Mile is slotted as the second Breeders’ Cup race to be run Nov. 4 and the seventh race on the program. It will be run around two turns on the main track, a configuration at which some of the leading pre-entrants have limited experience. Tamarkuz, for example, had his final prep in the Grade 2 Kelso, a one-turn mile Oct. 8 at Belmont.

“He’s never been two turns,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “He might love two turns. He’s been second in his last two starts, run very well. He might like the two turns. He’s a push-button horse to ride, does everything right.”

Trainer Laura Wohlers said there are reasons to believe that Runhappy, the winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will transition to two turns. He is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Ack Ack, a one-turn mile Oct. 1 at Churchill.

“I do think he runs in the turns well,” Wohlers said. “He’s always had a lot of speed in the turns, is very aggressive in the turn, so I think that hopefully the two-turn mile will be even better for him.”

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is looking forward to the move back to two turns for one-mile specialist Point Piper, who was fourth in the Kelso.

“I don’t think the one turn suited him,” he said.

The last time Point Piper raced around two turns, he won the Grade 3 Longacres Mile in an Emerald Downs track-record time of 1:32.90. It was the fifth career win for the horse, who has registered all of his victories at a mile.

Others pre-entered were the 3-year-olds Accelerate, unbeaten at a two-turn mile; Texas Chrome, who vanned out of Oklahoma on Wednesday; and Tom’s Ready, who breezed five-eighths in 1:01.80 on Wednesday at Churchill.

:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2016: Pre-entries, odds, comments, and more