Breeders’ Cup Classic may feature Triple Crown race winners
Kentucky Derby winner Authentic heads a field of 11 horses, possibly including filly and Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver against males, for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with trainer Bob Baffert entering three horses in the $6 million race that includes Belmont
winner Tiz the Law.
Besides Authentic, second to Swiss Skydiver in the Preakness, Baffert has Improbable and Maximum Security in the 1 ¼-mile Classic at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. The Hall of Fame trainer haswon the race a record three times.
Baffert is glad horse racing is getting to stage its world championships in a year where sports have been turned upside down by the coronavirus. When the pandemic struck in mid-March, racing was shut down in hard-hit California.
“It was looking so gloomy. I feel really fortunate thatwe got to reopen and this is happening,” Baffert said. “Don’t
complain and just enjoy that we’re running. That’s one thing I learned fromit.”
Baffert is the all- time leader among trainers in Breeders’ Cup earnings with over $30 million. He’s currently under the microscope for multiple positive drug tests involving some of his horses, including filly Gamine, who is pre-entered in the $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint.
The Classic field was among a total of 201 horses pre-entered Wednesday for the$28 million, 14-raceworld championships on Nov. 6-7.
“What I love about the Breeders’ Cup is it’s all about the best horses and best jockeys,” Baffert said.
Swiss Skydiver is also pre- entered in the Distaff, for which she is first preference to run against her own gender.
“That’s the first logical choice,” trainer Ken McPeek said of the Distaff. “It isn’t a decision set in stone yet.
We’re not going to rule out the other race.”
McPeek said he likes his filly at the Classic distance of 1 ¼ miles and noted she would receive a break in the weights in that race. In the 1 1/8-mile Distaff, Monomoy Girl is expected to be the heavy favorite.
Swiss Skydiver has five graded stakes wins at as many different tracks. She defeated males in the Preakness on Oct. 3. If Swiss Skydiver runs in the Classic, shewould try to become the first female to win the race since superstar Zenyatta did so 11 years ago.
“She’s just a real tough filly. It seems every race she seems to keep coming at themstronger and stronger,” McPeek said.
Tiz the Law won the Belmont, which opened this year’s reconfigured Triple Crown, and then finished second to Authentic in the Kentucky Derby for his lone defeat this year.
Others entered in the Classic are: By My Standards, Global Campaign, Higher Power, Tacitus, Title Ready, and Tom’s d’Etat.