Breeders' Cup Mile: Tepin facing very strong cast

No Breeders’ Cup race has produced more multiple winners than the Mile, and Tepin, despite having lost her most recent start, figures to be favored to become the sixth horse to win more than one edition of the Mile.

Tepin, who won the 2015 Mile at Keeneland by more than two lengths, was among 23 horses pre-entered in the Mile, which will have 14 runners at most, leaving nine horses on the outside looking in toward the main body of the field.

One of the excluded horses, Suedois, was pre-entered with first preference in the Turf Sprint, and Kitcat, who has an automatic entry in the Mile, was pre-entered with first preference in the Filly and Mare Turf. If she is entered there, Cougar Mountain, a European horse lacking established Group 1 form, leads the list of excluded runners.

The accomplished miler Obviously, who has a third and a fifth in previous Mile starts, was surprisingly buried on the excluded list and would need six defections to get in. Obviously was entered with second preference for the Turf Sprint.

Photo Call, among the Mile entrants, ended Tepin’s eight-race winning streak with a front-running, 2 3/4-length win Oct. 8 at Keeneland in the First Lady Stakes.

Tepin earlier this year traveled to England and won the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, and she beat males for the third time in her subsequent start, taking the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

Trainer Mark Casse has said all along that he didn’t want Tepin gutted for the BC Mile by a hard race at Keeneland, and though obviously disappointed with her defeat, Casse said the star 5-year-old mare has exited that race in excellent condition.

“She is doing great, probably as good as I’ve ever seen her,” Casse said on a Wednesday conference call. “She’ll have an easy breeze Friday, and all our horses are flying to California on Monday.”

Tepin will need her best to beat an excellent group of runners intended for the Mile. The pre-entrants include Miss Temple City, who won the Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 8 at Keeneland, her second grass-mile win over males this season.

Ironicus, the runner-up in that race, closed furiously into a slow pace and, after a light campaign, still has room to improve. Midnight Storm, who has been rested for this start, is the leading Southern California hope.

The European contingent includes at least two very live horses in the 3-year-old filly Alice Springs and the stretch-out sprinter Limato, both of whom should like Santa Anita’s firm turf course.

Mondialiste, the 2015 Mile runner-up and the winner this year of the Arlington Million, is going to start in the Turf, where he has a free entry. Spectre and Dutch Connection, the two other Europeans assured of a spot in the gate, would need a career-best showing to prove a major factor.

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