Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
BRICKS AND MORTAR AMONG STAR-STUDDED GROUP OF 188 HORSES PRE-ENTERED, PAGE 6 THE ELITE MEET
Several horses with designs on Horse of the Year – including Bricks and Mortar, Code of Honor, Midnight Bisou, and Mitole – were among the 188 individual horses announced Wednesday as pre-entries in the 14 races that will comprise the 36th Breeders’ Cup, to be held at Santa Anita for the 10th time on Nov. 1 and 2.
Bricks and Mortar is expected go to in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, though he also was pre-entered in the Mile grass race, with the Turf listed as his first preference. Code of Honor is part of a compelling field of 3-yearolds, older runners, and a mare in the Classic, which brings the 14-race festival to a close. Midnight Bisou, unbeaten in seven starts this year, looms a heavy favorite in the Distaff. Mitole is part of a dynamic field in the Sprint, which is shaping up as perhaps the best race of the weekend.
The Classic, the richest Breeders’ Cup race at $6 million, drew the likes of older runners McKinzie and Vino Rosso, 3-year-olds Code of Honor and Owendale, and the mare Elate.
A total of 11 runners were pre-entered in the Classic. Elate also was pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but has the Classic listed as her first preference, and trainer Bill Mott has repeatedly stated in recent weeks that the Classic is her target.
McKinzie was second most recently in the Awesome Again but is the lukewarm 7-2 favorite on the early line of Daily Racing Form’s Brad Free. Vino Rosso most recently was disqualified from victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but earlier this year won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita.
Code of Honor was the beneficiary of Vino Rosso’s disqualification, and his promotion in the
Jockey Club Gold Cup marked his second straight victory at the Classic’s distance of 1 1/4 miles, following his win in the Travers, in which multiple stakes winner Owendale was fifth.
Elate has never raced against males in her 18-race career, but is taking on this assignment owing to her success at 1 1/4 miles, as she is 3 for 3 at the distance.
The Classic field, with confirmed riders, is Code of Honor (John Velazquez up), Elate (Jose Ortiz), Higher Power (Flavien Prat), Math Wizard, McKinzie (Joel Rosario), Mongolian Groom (Abel Cedillo), Owendale (Javier Castellano), Seeking the Soul (Brian Hernandez Jr.), Vino Rosso (Irad Ortiz Jr.), War of Will (Tyler Gaffalione), and Yoshida (Mike Smith).
Saffie Joseph Jr., the trainer of Math Wizard, said he would decide on a rider no later than this weekend.
The Classic is the last of nine Breeders’ Cup races that will be run Nov. 2. Preceding it, in chronological order, are the Filly and Mare Sprint, Turf Sprint, Dirt Mile, Filly and Mare Turf, Sprint, Mile, Distaff, and Turf.
In addition to McKinzie in the Classic, Free’s early favorites for those races are Covfefe (2-1 in the Filly and Mare Sprint), Eddie Haskell (4-1 in the Turf Sprint), Omaha Beach (6-5 in the Dirt Mile), Sistercharlie (2-1 in the Filly and Mare Turf), Mitole (5-2 in the Sprint), Circus Maximus (3-1 in the Mile), Midnight Bisou (7-5 in the Distaff), and Bricks and Mortar (2-1 in the Turf).
The Nov. 1 card has five Breeders’ Cup races, all for 2-year-olds. The order on Nov. 1 for Breeders’ Cup races is the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Juvenile
Turf, Juvenile Fillies, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Juvenile.
David Aragona of Daily Racing Form set the prices for those races. His favorites are Four Wheel Drive (5-2 in the Juvenile Turf Sprint), Arizona (5-2 in the Juvenile Turf), Bast (3-1 in the Juvenile Fillies), Sweet Melania (4-1 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf), and Dennis’ Moment (9-5 in the Juvenile).
The 14 races have $28 million in race purses.
Three previous Breeders’ Cup race winners were preentered. Stormy Liberal will try to win the Turf Sprint for an unprecedented third straight year, Sistercharlie looks for a repeat in the Filly and Mare Turf, and Line of Duty tries to win the Mile one year after capturing the Juvenile Turf.
Pre-entries were due Monday, and were announced Wednes
day. At that time, horses – such as Bricks and Mortar and Elate – could be put in two races. But for the cross-entered horses a decision on a specific race must be made by next Monday, when entries are due and posts drawn for all 14 races. Of the 188 individual horses pre-entered, 26 were pre-entered in two races.
Six of the races – the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Juvenile Turf, Juvenile Fillies Turf, Turf Sprint, Mile, and Dirt Mile – drew more than the maximum number of horses that can run in the race. In those cases, preference was given to horses who won Win and You’re In races, then those who earned points in graded stakes throughout the year, with that number totaling half the maximum field size. The remaining horses were placed in order of preference by an international panel of racing secretaries.
Fourteen runners is the maximum in 11 of the 14 races, with maximums of 12 in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, Turf Sprint, and Dirt Mile. At entry time next week, as many as two also-eligibles are allowed in races that have a maximum of 14, and up to four also-eligibles are allowed in races that have a maximum of 12.
The Turf Sprint and Juvenile Turf Sprint both will be run at five furlongs. In previous years when the Breeders’ Cup was held at Santa Anita, turf sprints were held on the downhill turf course, but that course has not been used since earlier this year following a fatal accident.
That fatality was one of more than two dozen that came during a winter/spring meeting that was suspended for several weeks in March. For a time, there was concern if the Breeders’ Cup would remain at Santa Anita, but the Breeders’ Cup voted in June to leave the event at Santa Anita.
Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer last week was denied by the Breeders’ Cup being able to run horses in his name this year, mirroring a policy Santa Anita has had in place since June. But Hollendorfer’s
two Breeders’ Cup runners – Danuska’s My Girl in the Filly and Mare Sprint and Vasilika in the Filly and Mare Turf – both were allowed to preenter, with his assistant, Dan Ward, listed as the trainer.
There are 47 horses shipping in from overseas, with 17 trained by Aidan O’Brien, who leads all trainers in number of pre-entries this year. His top runner is the filly Magical, runner-up in the Turf last year. She was pre-entered in both the Turf and the Filly and Mare Turf, with the Turf denoted as preferred at preentry time, though O’Brien has stated previously that the Filly and Mare Turf is her expected target this year.