The majority of the nine horses pre-entered in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile were purchased at auction, either as a yearling last fall or at a 2-year-old-in-training sale during the spring. The connections of Mr. A. P. got their Juvenile prospect out of a high-priced maiden-claiming race in the summer at Del Mar. On Oct. 31, 18 days after winning a one-mile maiden race at Santa Anita, Mr. A. P. will be taking on division heavyweights Ted Noffey and Brant in the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile at Del Mar. “He’ll have 18 days in between races, he came out of the race in great shape. We think he’s competitive in that field, so we’ll give it a shot,” trainer Vladimir Cerin said. :: BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Mr. A. P. will be Cerin’s first Breeders’ Cup starter since 2008, when he sent out Albertus Maximus to win the Dirt Mile at Santa Anita. At the behest of owner David Wilson, Cerin claimed Mr. A. P. out of a July 31 race for $150,000. Earlier that morning, Cerin had been approached by another of his clients to claim a different horse out of that same race, but Cerin didn’t like that horse. Cerin, after viewing some workout videos of Mr. A. P., was on board with Wilson wanting to claim him. “He said there is another horse that looks really interesting, check him out,” Cerin recalled. “He said, ‘I can buy a yearling for a million dollars and wait 2 1/2 years to find out he can’t run, or I can claim one for $150,000 and know within minutes.’ ” Mr. A. P. ran a creditable second in that 5 1/2-furlong race. A month later, going six furlongs in a maiden-special race, Mr. A. P. duked it out in the stretch with heavily bet Kristofferson, falling three-quarters of a length short but finishing 7 1/4 lengths clear of the rest of the field. On Oct. 13, Cerin stretched Mr. A. P. out to a mile and after sitting fifth early, Mr. A. P. got involved in a prolonged stretch battle with the Bob Baffert-trained Cherokee Nation, edging that one by a nose, the pair finishing more than 12 lengths in front of the field. “I was hoping he would run a little bit better than he did,” Cerin said. “He’s still a young athlete, not sure if he knows where the wire is yet. If he figures it out, we’ll know more of what we have.” ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save big. Antonio Fresu will ride Mr. A. P. in the Juvenile. Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher have combined to win the last four runnings of the Juvenile and eight of the last 15. Baffert, who won it last year with Citizen Bull, pre-entered the trio of Del Mar Futurity winner Brant, who will have Flavien Prat aboard, Del Mar Futurity-runner-up Desert Gate (Juan Hernandez), and Breeders’ Futurity third-place finisher Litmus Test (Jose Ortiz). Pletcher, whose most recent Juvenile victory came in 2023 with Fierceness, will have this year’s favorite in Ted Noffey (John Velazquez), who comes in undefeated with Grade 1 victories in the Hopeful and Breeders’ Futurity. Intrepido (Hector Berrios), the Grade 1 American Pharoah winner trained by Jeff Mullins, was supplemented to the Juvenile for a $100,000 fee. The other pre-entrants are Blackout Time (Irad Ortiz Jr.), runner-up in the Breeders’ Futurity; Comport (Tyler Gaffalione), runner-up in the Grade 3 Iroquois; and Civil Liberty (Frankie Dettori), a maiden who was third in the Del Mar Futurity and fourth in the American Pharoah. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.