Top four fall stakes winners all are in

The winners of the Champagne Stakes, Breeders' Futurity, Norfolk Stakes, and Hopeful Stakes - four of the biggest fall races for 2-year-olds - are among the 16 that were pre-entered on Monday for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

War Pass, who led from start to finish in the Champagne at Belmont Park to run his record to 3 for 3, may prove to be the tepid choice in a deep, strong field. His main rivals include Wicked Style, who also is perfect in three starts following his victory in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland; Dixie Chatter, who won the two-turn Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting; and Majestic Warrior, who took the Hopeful at Saratoga before a sixth-place finish as the strong favorite in the Champagne.

In addition to those four, the Juvenile also has important stakes winners Kodiak Kowboy, Tale of Ekati, and Texas Fever, as well as Pyro, Salute the Sarge, and Slew's Tiznow.

A maximum of 14 can run in the Juvenile, which is at 1 1/16 miles, a two-turn race at Monmouth. War Pass and Wicked Style got in the race through victories in their most-recent races, which were part of the Breeders' Cup's "Win and You're In" program. Five others who made the field - Dixie Chatter, Kodiak Kowboy, Majestic Warrior, Salute the Sarge, and Tale of Ekati - got in through points earned this year in graded stakes.

The remaining seven slots were determined by an international panel of racing directors and secretaries. They chose Beresford (fourth in the Norfolk), Old Man Buck (third in the Breeders' Futurity), Pyro, Shore Do (third in the Norfolk), Slew's Tiznow, Texas Fever, and Z Humor (third in the Champagne).

Beresford, however, is injured and is out of the race, trainer Dan Hendricks said Wednesday.

The two horses originally on the outside looking in - in order of the panel's preference - were Globalization and Overextended, but Globalization will get in with the defection of Beresford.

Old Man Buck, Overextended, Shore Do, and Texas Fever also were pre-entered in the inaugural $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Oct. 26. The connections of both Old Man Buck and Texas Fever have designated that race as their first choice, so if either is entered in that race on Tuesday, Overextended also will get into the Juvenile.