Distaff is highlight of four-race BC lineup on Day 1

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trick or treat?

For this year’s 31st Breeders’ Cup, despite the inevitable disappointments of who isn’t here, the bag of candy on offer at Santa Anita is overflowing.

Wise Dan could not make it. But California Chrome is here. Beholder had to drop out. But Untapable is here. That gives this two-day affair a strong link to the biggest weekend of the first half of the year, with the Kentucky Derby winner and Kentucky Oaks winner running on consecutive afternoons.

California Chrome goes Saturday in the $5 million Classic, the last and richest of the Breeders’ Cup races. With Shared Belief, Tonalist, and Bayern also in the lineup, the Classic has the potential to decide both Horse of the Year and champion male 3-year-old.

Untapable runs in the $2 million Distaff, the richest and most significant of the four Breeders’ Cup races to be run Friday.

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And that’s just a taste. Beginning on Halloween Friday and running through Saturday, the Breeders’ Cup will conduct 13 races, all Grade 1 events, worth a total of $24.5 million. Many will decide Eclipse Awards, all will enrich the winning connections, and all have the potential to result in life-changing scores for bettors, what with large fields throughout.

There were 174 final entries, second to the Breeders’ Cup record of 180 in 2011, when there were 15 races. Last year, there were 161 entries for 14 races, so this year represents a significant uptick on average. The smallest field this year is nine – owing to the scratch of Handsome Mike from the Dirt Mile – and five of the fields attracted more than the maximum of 14, resulting in also-eligible lists.

The only way a horse on the also-eligible list can get in is if a horse in the main body of the race is withdrawn by 8 a.m. Friday, which is scratch time for both the Friday and Saturday Breeders’ Cup races.

Those large fields will make for great gambling. Jon White, who makes the morning line at Santa Anita, has just two horses – Goldencents in the Dirt Mile on Friday and Shared Belief in the Classic on Saturday – as lower than 2-1.

Goldencents is one of four Breeders’ Cup winners from last year back for another go-round. Ria Antonia, the winner by disqualification in the Juvenile Fillies a year ago, will try to claim the Distaff this year, a feat accomplished by Beholder in 2012 (Juvenile Fillies) and 2013 (Distaff).

On Saturday, Dank (Filly and Mare Turf) and Secret Circle (Sprint) vie for repeats in their races.

This is the third straight year, and the fifth time in the last seven years, that the Breeders’ Cup is being held at Santa Anita. One of the reasons this Art Deco jewel has become so popular with Breeders’ Cup officials is the ideal weather usually on display, and Friday should be no different. The Weather Channel forecast calls for a high of 75 degrees under partly cloudy skies.

The Breeders’ Cup races on Friday comprise races 6 through 9 on a 10-race card. First post time is 11:25 a.m. Pacific, with an allowance race followed by four stakes, two of which are Grade 2 events.

Post time for the first Breeders’ Cup race, the Juvenile Turf, is 2:25 p.m. There is a pick four on the four Friday BC races, with a guaranteed pool of $1.5 million.

The Juvenile Turf drew 16 entrants; a maximum of 14 can run. The well-traveled Hootenanny – who this year has raced in Kentucky, Maryland, Britain, and France – is the 3-1 morning-line favorite of White. Daily Racing Form ’s Brad Free also has Hootenanny as the favorite but at 4-1, reflecting the wide-open nature of the race.

Goldencents is up next in the Dirt Mile. White has him at 6-5, Free at 7-5. This will be the final career start for Goldencents, who also won the Santa Anita Derby in 2013.

The Juvenile Fillies Turf also has 16 entrants, including two also-eligibles. Wesley Ward, who trains Hootenanny, also has the lukewarm favorite in this race in Sunset Glow, who will be making her sixth start at her fifth different track. She is 7-2 on White’s line, 3-1 with Free.

Untapable is the 2-1 favorite with Free and the 5-2 choice with White as she takes on elders for the first time in the Distaff. Her primary rival is Close Hatches, second in this race last year to Beholder.

The Distaff is the first leg of a daily double that concludes with the Classic on Saturday.

Although there is one race following the Distaff on Friday, do note that the Distaff will be the final leg of the pick six. It has a guaranteed pool Friday of $750,000. If no one hits, it will carry over to Saturday’s card.

There also is a Super Hi 5 wager on the Distaff. If no one hits that, it would carry over to the Classic on Saturday.

All four Friday BC races will be shown live on NBCSN during a three-hour telecast beginning at 2 p.m.