Breeders' Cup offering head-to-head bets

Four of the seven head-to-head wagers that Breeders’ Cup will offer during its two-day event on Friday and Saturday will pit U.S.-based horses against European-based horses, according to a roster of the bets released on Wednesday.

The four U.S-based vs. Europe-based head-to-head bets will be offered on the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Juvenile Turf, both scheduled for Friday, and the Filly and Mare Turf and the Mile, scheduled for Saturday.

The identities of the horses grouped in each bet depends on where the horses made their last start, not where they were bred, so some foreign-breds are considered U.S. horses, while some U.S-bred horses are considered European horses. The fields can be found at the Breeders’ Cup website.

In the other three head-to-head bets:

* Two unbeaten colts in the Juvenile, Complexity, 7-2 on the morning line, and Game Winner, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the race, are being offered.

* Enable, the 4-5 morning-line favorite in the Turf, is being matched with the rest of the field for that race - 12 other horses at press time.

* And in the Classic, Mendelssohn, 12-1 on the morning line, is being matched against Thunder Snow, 15-1 on the morning line.

The head-to-head wagers are parimutuel, with a $10 minimum and a 10 percent takeout. Breeders’ Cup has not offered head-to-head bets on its slate of races for more than a decade.

Breeders’ Cup has reintroduced head-to-head bets at a time when sports wagering has become more common in the U.S. following a decision by the Supreme Court earlier this year striking down a federal law prohibiting states from legalizing the practice. Since then, sports betting has been launched or expanded in a number of states, including Delaware and New Jersey.