California Chrome tops 185 pre-entered for Breeders' Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. – California, here they come.

Led by California Chrome, acknowledged as the best dirt horse in the world, as well as nine Breeders’ Cup race winners from last year and two from prior years, a total of 185 horses were announced on Wednesday as having been pre-entered in the 13 Breeders’ Cup races that will be run Nov. 4-5 here at Santa Anita. Among the popular stars pre-entered were Beholder, Found, Frosted, Lady Eli, Runhappy, Songbird, and Tepin.

California Chrome, Found, and Frosted are among 14 who were pre-entered in the $6 million Classic, the last and richest of the races. Beholder and Songbird are slated to meet another Eclipse Award winner, Stellar Wind, in the $2 million Distaff, marking the first time three reigning champions are in the same Breeders’ Cup race.

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Lady Eli, who has made a remarkable comeback from laminitis, is pre-entered in the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf, while Tepin is seeking to defend her title in the $2 million Mile on turf, and soap-opera star Runhappy is trying to stretch his speed in the $1 million Dirt Mile.

A remarkable nine of the 13 horses who won Breeders’ Cup races last year at Keeneland are pre-entered, and two Breeders’ Cup winners from earlier years are also pre-entered, making a total of 11 prior Breeders’ Cup race winners seeking additional glory.

Tepin, Wavell Avenue ($1 million Filly and Mare Sprint), and Mongolian Saturday ($1 million Turf Sprint) are defending their titles in the same race as 2015. Found, who won last year’s Turf, is pre-entered in that $4 million race but is cross-entered in the Classic and had the Classic designated as her first choice at pre-entry time. Her trainer, Aidan O’Brien, leads all trainers in pre-entries with 13.

Songbird won last year’s Juvenile Fillies and now, a year later and still unbeaten, takes on elders for the first time in the highly anticipated Distaff. Similarly, 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist won last year’s Juvenile and this time faces elders in the Classic, led by another Kentucky Derby winner, 2014’s California Chrome.

Runhappy won last year’s Sprint but will go two turns this year in the Dirt Mile. Catch a Glimpse, the winner of the 2015 Juvenile Fillies Turf, is pre-entered in both the Filly and Mare Turf, her first choice at the pre-entry stage, and the Turf Sprint. Hit It a Bomb, last year’s Juvenile Turf winner, is pre-entered in the Mile but is a longshot to even get into that oversubscribed race.

Lady Eli won the Juvenile Fillies Turf here two years ago, while Beholder has two Breeders’ Cup wins here, in the Juvenile Fillies in 2012 and the Distaff in 2013.

This will be the 33rd Breeders’ Cup and the record ninth held at Santa Anita. There are four Breeders’ Cup races – the Juvenile Turf, Dirt Mile, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Distaff – on Nov. 4, with nine more – the Juvenile Fillies, Filly and Mare Turf, Sprint, Turf Sprint, Juvenile, Turf, Filly and Mare Sprint, Mile, and Classic – on Nov. 5. All are Grade 1 races, and the purses are worth a total of $26.5 million.

Twelve of the races will be televised live by NBCSN, with the Classic live on NBC.

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Wednesday’s pre-entry announcement was the first of a two-step entry process. Horses can be pre-entered in up to two races. There were officially 210 entries – 185 individual horses plus 25 cross-entries.

On Monday, final entries are due and posts will be drawn for all 13 races. At that point, horses can be entered in only one race – but there is an exception that may come into play.

Under Breeders’ Cup rules, a horse can enter two races if both races are not oversubscribed at entry time and the two races are run on different days. This could impact decisions for horses like Gun Runner and War Story, both of whom are pre-entered in the Classic and Dirt Mile and have the Classic as their first choice at this point. The Classic is to be run Saturday, the Dirt Mile Friday, and neither race is oversubscribed, so in theory, those horses could be entered in both races, and their connections could see the draw and final fields before deciding in which race to compete.

Scratch time for both days is 8 a.m. Pacific on Nov. 4.

There already is one defection from the Dirt Mile, with Bradester having been withdrawn in the 48 hours since pre-entries were submitted on Monday.

A maximum of 14 horses can run in 12 of the Breeders’ Cup races, with 12 horses the limit for the Dirt Mile. Of the 13 races, seven – the Juvenile Turf and Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday and the Filly and Mare Turf, Turf Sprint, Turf, Filly and Mare Sprint, and Mile on Saturday – had more than the maximum number of runners at the pre-entry stage.

In those races, up to seven runners were granted spots via victories in Win and You’re In races or points accrued in graded stakes. The remainder of the field was determined by rankings of an international panel of racing secretaries. Those horses on the outside looking in are ranked in order set by the panel and can get in only if there is a defection from the main body of the race.

At entry time, 14 horses will be allowed in the main body of the race, and up to two also-eligibles, who would have until scratch time to get in.