ARCADIA, Calif. – The depth and quality of the field and the degree of difficulty for handicappers as it pertains to Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita is reflected by the odds of two morning-line makers. While both David Aragona, of Daily Racing Form, and Jon White, of 1/ST Racing, tab Locked as the favorite, a trio of contenders in the 11-horse field are within one point of him. Locked, winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, is listed at 3-1 on Aragona’s line, 7-2 on White’s. Aragona went 7-2 on both Grade 1 Champagne winner Timberlake and Grade 1 American Pharoah winner Muth while he lists Prince of Monaco, undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, at 4-1. White went 4-1 on Timberlake, Muth, and Prince of Monaco. Locked is trained by Todd Pletcher, who has won the Juvenile three times, including last year with Forte. Like Locked, Forte was coming out of a narrow Breeders’ Futurity victory that battle-hardened him. Locked, a son of Gun Runner, overcame a wide trip on both turns under Jose Ortiz to beat a stubborn The Wine Steward in the Futurity. “I thought it was a big effort because I don’t think he got a great trip. Jose didn’t think he got a great trip either,” Pletcher said. “It wasn’t a bad ride, it was just the way things unfolded, very wide on both turns. I thought he put in a determined effort to overcome a pretty wide journey.” :: Breeders' Cup Shop: DRF Past Performances available now Locked also had a difficult trip in his career debut when he was pinched back to last at the break and came with a belated run to finish third. He then won a one-mile maiden race at Saratoga by 7 1/4 lengths, five weeks before his Futurity win. Last year, Forte had the luxury of staying at Keeneland where the Breeders’ Cup was held. This year, Locked remained at Keeneland to train before shipping here Sunday. “I love the way he’s training, I love the way his last breeze went,” Pletcher said. “To me, he’s training every bit as well, if not better, than he was going into the Breeders’ Futurity.” Locked, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm, breaks from post 6 under Ortiz. Pletcher has two other runners in the Juvenile. Fierceness couldn’t have been more impressive winning his maiden by 11 1/4 lengths in the slop at Saratoga before finishing seventh of eight, beaten 20 1/4 lengths, as the 1-2 favorite in the Champagne, also in the slop, at Aqueduct. Pletcher shipped Fierceness to Keeneland with his other Breeders’ Cup horses to train before deciding to ship him west. “We didn’t leave the Champagne saying we’re definitely going to the Breeders’ Cup,” Pletcher said. “I said let’s take him to Keeneland, see how he trains with the other horses and see if he deserves a chance, and he’s trained so well. It’s a classic situation, you just draw a line through the race and if it doesn’t work out then it’s on him.” John Velazquez will ride Fierceness from post 9. Noted, Pletcher’s third Juvenile entrant, was pre-entered for both this race and the Juvenile Turf. Noted, in his lone start on dirt, won the Sapling at Monmouth Park by six lengths, a race from which the second- and third-place finishers both came back to win. “We feel like he’s capable on both surfaces. He’s a horse that probably wants to settle and make one run. Looks like there’s plenty of pace in the Juvenile dirt,” Pletcher said. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Noted from post 11. Bob Baffert, a five-time Juvenile winner, including twice when the event was held here at Santa Anita, also has three starters. Muth, a $2 million 2-year-old in training purchase, is coming off a win in the American Pharoah, which, like the Juvenile, is run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns. That followed a loss to Prince of Monaco in the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar. “I wasn’t sure about Muth [getting two turns], especially the way he ran the time before,” Baffert said. “I freshened him up and look at the way he ran.” Prince of Monaco, a $950,000 yearling purchase and son of Speightstown, is 3 for 3 including a victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 10. He has not raced since. “There’s nothing better when you can run a horse a little fresh,” Baffert said. “He had two hard races down at Del Mar. He’s a horse that I think the time has helped him.” Flavien Prat rides Prince of Monaco from post 2. Baffert also runs Wine Me Up, who came off a maiden win to run second to Muth in the American Pharoah. Wine Me Up got a bit wound up in the post parade and at the gate, yet still ran a respectable race. Baffert worked Wine Me Up without blinkers last weekend, but ultimately decided to keep them on for this race. Following Timberlake’s second in the Grade 1 Hopeful, in which he was a bit too aggressive early, trainer Brad Cox removed blinkers from Timberlake’s equipment and he responded with a dominant 4 1/4-length victory in the Champagne. “With the blinkers off he was able to relax, sat down on the inside, tipped out, and finished up well,” said Cox, who won this race in 2020 with Essential Quality. “He gave us the confidence he can stretch out.” Furthering Cox’s confidence is the way Timberlake has trained since. “He’s always been a very good work horse, continued to see nothing but more of that,” Cox said Tuesday. “He’s a bull right now, he’s a monster. I had a hold of him but he led me to the track this morning.” :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2023: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division General Partner finished second in the Champagne, 6 1/4 lengths clear of the third-place finisher. Trainer Chad Brown, who won this race in 2017 with Champagne runner-up Good Magic, said General Partner earned his way here based on the way he’s trained since the Champagne. “I’d like to see him back on a dry track and see how far he can go,” Brown said. The Wine Steward, a New York-bred son of 2019 Classic winner Vino Rosso, won his first three starts sprinting before running a more than creditable second to Locked in the Breeders’ Futurity when he was 3 3/4 lengths clear of the third-place finisher. Luis Saez rides for trainer Mike Maker. Perhaps the two horses in this field that would seem like a stretch are Ecoro Neo, a Kentucky-bred son of Bernardini who is winless in two starts in Japan, and Cuban Thunder, an Irish-bred son of Profitable who is 1 for 6 racing on turf and synthetic. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.