Karakontie, Nyquist get wide draws in BC races

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Several prominent horses landed potentially tricky posts when 11 of the 13 Breeders’ Cup races to be run Friday and Saturday at Keeneland were drawn early Monday afternoon, including Karakontie, who will again have to overcome an outside draw if he is to repeat in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and Nyquist, who will have to start from post 13 in a bid to remain undefeated in the Juvenile.

Karakontie broke from the far-outside post in a field of 14 when winning the Mile at Santa Anita last year. This year, he will go from post 11 in a field of 12, with another well-regarded European, Time Test, drawing the outside post.

The draw also was unkind to fancied Europeans in the Juvenile Turf, with Cymric getting post 13 and Hit It a Bomb getting No. 14 in a race in which 14 can run. Fifteen were entered in the Juvenile Turf, so there is one also-eligible, the longshot Sheikh of Sheikhs.

Nyquist is inside of only Waterloo Bridge in the Juvenile, which drew a full field of 14, plus two also-eligibles.

A total of 165 horses wound up in the main draw for the 13 races, with 10 horses placed on the also-eligible list. The total of 175 final entries is one more than the 174 who were entered for a similar 13-race extravaganza last year at Santa Anita, and it is the second-highest ever for a Breeders’ Cup, trailing the 180 who were entered in 2011, but there were 15 races that year.

There are four Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and nine on Saturday. Three of the Friday races were drawn at midday Monday, along with eight of the Saturday races. The Distaff, to be run Friday, and the Classic, to be run Saturday, were drawn after this edition was printed, but stories on each are available online at www.drf.com.

The Classic field was expected to include American Pharoah, Beholder, Effinex, Frosted, Gleneagles, Hard Aces, Honor Code, Keen Ice, Smooth Roller, and Tonalist.

The Distaff field was expected to include Calamity Kate, Curalina, Frivolous, Got Lucky, I’m a Chatterbox, My Sweet Addiction, Salama, Sheer Drama, Stellar Wind, Stopchargingmaria, Untapable, Warren’s Veneda, Wedding Toast, and Yahilwa, with Peace and War on the also-eligible list.

Beholder was pre-entered last week in both the Classic and the Distaff, with the Classic denoted as her first choice. On Monday morning, all horses like her who were cross-entered in two races had to have their connections decide where they were going to run. Beholder stayed in the Classic.

One of the most significant audibles was called by trainer Bill Mott, who decided to move Lea into the Dirt Mile after signaling his preference for the Mile, on turf, last week.

A maximum of 14 horses can run in all the races, with the exception of the Dirt Mile and the Filly and Mare Turf, which are limited to 12. There were full fields in eight of the 13 races, and in seven of the races – the Juvenile Turf, Juvenile Fillies Turf, Distaff, Turf Sprint, Filly and Mare Turf, Sprint, and Juvenile – as many as two horses were placed on an also-eligible list owing to their ranking in each race by a international panel of racing officials.

The only way a horse placed on the also-eligible list can get into a race is if there is a scratch from the main body of the race by Friday morning, which is scratch time for both Friday and Saturday.

Reflecting the strength across the board of this Breeders’ Cup, the first ever run at Keeneland, the smallest field is 10, in both the Classic and the Juvenile Fillies.

Songbird and Rachel’s Valentina, expected to be the top two choices in the Juvenile Fillies, got posts 10 and 9, but the long run to the first turn and the relatively small field should not impact them.

The Dirt Mile draw, though, was one of the most watched, owing to the short run to the first turn and the short stretch run for that race. Liam’s Map, the expected favorite, drew well, landing post 3, and Lea got 5, but Tapiture (9), Valid (10), and War Story (11) did not fare well.

Outside posts might prove a hindrance in the Juvenile Fillies Turf for the likes of Mirage and Last Waltz, who got posts 13 and 14.

Similarly, Stephanie’s Kitten and Secret Gesture will go from posts 11 and 12 in the Filly and Mare Turf. It was perhaps fate that they would end up next to one another after their controversial meeting in the Beverly D. Stakes, which resulted in Secret Gesture being disqualified after being ruled to have interfered with Stephanie’s Kitten in deep stretch.