Forty Years of Breeders’ Cups

1984 saw the start of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which started as seven races at Hollywood Park and this year, forty years later, will have fourteen races at Santa Anita.

Hollywood is no longer, and is replaced by a football stadium.

More than two hundred pre-entries have been announced, highlighted by 18 for the richest race of the weekend, the Breeders’ Cup Classic. This race has been moved in the racing schedule from its traditional spot as the finale, to the third-to-last contest, followed by the Turf Sprint and the Sprint. This is due to schedule conflicts NBC has with another sport.

The Juvenile Turf will complete the Breeders’ Cup racing on Friday, Nov 3, as has become traditional for this race. Also becoming tradition is the opening event, the Juvenile Turf Sprint.

The Breeders’ Cup schedule for Saturday is entirely different from past years due to the schedule conflict; the Filly & Mare Sprint is typically the Saturday opener but is now the third Breeders’ Cup race of the day. The Turf is still the last race before the Classic.

With a 2pm PDT post time, the Juvenile Turf Sprint is race 5 on the Santa Anita card on Nov 3. The Juvenile Fillies follows at 2:40, then the Juvenile Fillies Turf at 3:20, Juvenile at 4, and Juvenile Turf at 4:40.

The Dirt Mile at 11:30am PDT is the third race on Santa Anita’s Nov 4 card, followed by the Filly & Mare Turf at 12:10, Filly & Mare Sprint at 12:50, Mile at 1:30, Distaff at 2:10, Turf at 2:50, Classic at 3:40, Turf Sprint at 4:25, and Sprint at 5pm.

The Nov 3 races will be on USA Network and FanDuel TV (formerly TVG). The Nov 4 races will be on NBC through the Classic, and FanDuel TV except for the Classic but including the two post-Classic races, while BreedersCup.com will stream all the Breeders’ Cup races for both days.

Below are the pre-entries who are also on the watch list (which is extended on a spreadsheet I have).

Classic:

Arabian Knight, Arcangelo, Charge It, Proxy, Saudi Crown, Senor Buscador, White Abarrio, Zandon, Clapton (#15, AE)

Distaff:

Clairiere, Desert Dawn, Hoosier Philly, Pretty Mischievous, Search Results, Wet Paint

Turf:

NONE (13 entered)

Filly & Mare Sprint:

Desert Dawn (also Distaff), Eda, Elm Drive, Hoosier Philly (also Distaff), Matareya, Society

Dirt Mile:

Charge It (also Classic), Cody’s Wish, Senor Buscador (also Classic), Three Technique

Mile:

Du Jour

Filly & Mare Turf:

NONE (14 entered)

Turf Sprint:

Caravel, Gear Jockey, Roses for Debra, One Timer (#14, 2nd AE)

Sprint:

Gunite, Hoist the Gold, Three Technique (also Dirt Mile)

Juvenile:

Locked

Juvenile Fillies:

Brightwork, Just F Y I, Tamara, V V’s Dream

Juvenile Fillies Turf:

Dreamfyre, Hard to Justify

Juvenile Turf:

Can Group

Juvenile Turf Sprint:

Brightwork (also Juvenile Fillies), Dreamfyre (also Juvenile Fillies Turf)