A total of 180 horses, down 13 from last year’s record, have been pre-entered in the 29th running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which returns to Santa Anita Racetrack on Friday, Nov. 2, and Saturday, Nov. 3.
The Breeders’ Cup consists of 15 races worth more than $25 million in purses, highlighted by the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which drew a full field of 14. The Classic will be televised live by NBC at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, the first time the race has been broadcast in prime time. Tony Bennett will sing “The Best Is Yet to Come” from the Santa Anita winner’s circle as the field parades to post.
The other Breeders’ Cup races — six on Friday, with first post 4:06 p.m. Eastern; and nine on Saturday, with first post at 2:50 p.m. — will be televised by the NBC Sports Network.
Game On Dude, second in last year’s Classic at Churchill Downs, is the likely favorite in this year’s renewal. Flat Out, fifth as last year’s Classic favorite; Santa Anita Handicap winner Ron the Greek; Woodward winner To Honor and Serve; and champion filly Royal Delta were pre-entered in the Classic with a chance to give Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his second straight victory in the race, though Royal Delta was cross-entered in the $2 million Ladies’ Classic on Friday and likely will run there instead.
Last year, Mott won the Ladies’ Classic with Royal Delta and the Classic with Drosselmeyer.
Other star thoroughbreds among the pre-entries are the top-class American turf horses Point of Entry and Wise Dan; undefeated champion fillies My Miss Aurelia and Awesome Feather; Euro-invaders Excelebration, St Nicholas Abbey, Shareta and The Fugue; and the unbeaten 2-year-old Shanghai Bobby. He will race without Lasix for the first time because the Breeders’ Cup this year has banned the bleeder medication in its juvenile races.
“It will be a concern,” Shanghai Bobby’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, said of his 2-year-olds racing without Lasix. “Hopefully they will perform up to their standards.”