Watchmaker: Breeders' Cup entry system explained

Pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup will be released Wednesday. And from that point on for about 11 days, horseplayers across the country and, yes, around the globe, yours truly included, will be preoccupied to the point where they might not have the time or inclination for anything else.

But while many of us happily give ourselves up to BC madness, it occurred to me that far fewer actually know how the BC pre-entry and final entry systems work. So consider the following a BC entry primer, if you will:

Tomorrow (Monday), pre-entries for all 13 BC races are due by noon Eastern. Online entries began Oct. 1, but entries tomorrow may be made at the BC racing office at Keeneland or at three locations in Europe – in England, Ireland, and France. Horses may be pre-entered in a maximum of two BC races, with a first preference of race required. BC fields will be limited to 14 starters except for the BC Dirt Mile and BC Filly & Mare Turf, which because of the configuration of Keeneland, will be limited to 12 starters this year.

Oversubscribed BC races (more than 14 pre-entries or more than 12 pre-entries this year in the BC Dirt Mile and BC Filly & Mare Turf) will be put to a field-selection system. This system is based first on wins in BC challenge races (Win and You’re In events), then on BC points earned, and then on the judgment of a panel of racing experts.

Winners of BC challenge races and leading points earners will make up half the field in oversubscribed BC races. For points earners to gain automatic inclusion in the body of an oversubscribed BC race, the horse must have a minimum of six points or four points in juvenile races.

The panel then will determine the remaining horses in the body of an oversubscribed race and rank the also-eligibles in order of preference. This is very important as also-eligibles may only draw into an oversubscribed BC race in that order of preference. The panel (no, I am not a member) completes this work Tuesday, sometimes very late Tuesday but in time for Wednesday’s big reveal.

A horse who is pre-entered in more than one BC race must declare which race he or she intends to compete in by noon Friday if there are horses on the also-eligible list for that race.

Final entries for the BC close at 10 a.m. next Monday, Oct. 26. There will be a maximum of two also-eligibles allowed for each BC race, with those also-eligibles ranked in order of preference. And a horse still may make final entry in two BC races as long as neither race is oversubscribed, and the two races are on different days.

Last, I found this to be quite interesting. There is a BC clause that states that a horse who makes final entry in two BC races may not compete on both days. Also, pre-entry and entry fees for the race a double-final-entered horse declines will not be refunded.

There you have it. I hope this clears up why, on occasion, it seems weird that some horses wind up in the body of an oversubscribed BC race, and better horses are stuck on the also-eligible list.

Two quick notes

There were two particularly promising 2-year-olds seen Saturday at Belmont. The first obviously was Annual Report, upset winner of the Futurity. The other was Pricedtoperfection, a maiden winner in the race right before the Futurity.

Annual Report won his only start before the Futurity and won it easily. But he was a surprise because that maiden win came down at Parx for his New York-based trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, and he was assigned a modest Beyer Speed Figure of only 58 for it. All of the five other Futurity starters earned higher Beyers, some substantially higher.

But Annual Report improved wildly Saturday, not just because his winning Beyer of 89 was a staggering 31-point move forward. Annual Report, who contested the pace in his debut win, came from last in the Futurity and won going away like a colt who really only wants to go long.

Pricedtoperfection was no surprise in her maiden score. She was odds on off a solid, wide-trip third in her debut at Saratoga to Tin Type Gal, who came back to win the Miss Grillo. But while Pricedtoperfection didn’t run fast Saturday – her preliminary Beyer was 73 – this was much more about how she did it, coming from well off the pace into slow fractions and running away from her field late while barely drawing a deep breath.

Pricedtoperfection is cut out to be a very good one. She is a full sister to Miss Temple City, a brutally unlucky loser in last week’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and probably one of the top five 3-year-old filly turf horses in the country.