A total of 185 horses have been pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita on November 4 and 5.
The 14 horses pre-entered for the centerpiece $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic included the expected favorite and the world’s highest-rated racehorse California Chrome, record-breaking GI Travers Stakes winner Arrogate; defending GI Breeders’ Cup Turf and G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Found; Kentucky Derby winner and 2015 champion juvenile Nyquist and GI Metropolitan Handicap star Frosted.
A total of 81 GI winners have been pre-entered for the 13 races, which offers combined purses of $28 million.Among those runners are 38 from overseas and 45 winners of Breeders’ Cup Challenge races.
Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien has the most pre-entries with 13 led by Found and the Coolmore partners have 14 entries.“It’s a bit of an unknown that Found hasn’t raced on the dirt,” O’Brien said of his Classic hopeful.
“Galileo ran well in the Classic himself on dirt after a long season as a three-year-old. Anything is possible with Galileos…Found is an incredible mare.”Other past winners of Breeders’ Cup races set to return include superstar turf miler mare Tepin; unbeaten champion filly Songbird; and three-time champion and two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Beholder.
“We are very pleased with the overall strength of our pre-entered fields from Europe, Asia and North and South America,” said Craig Fravel, Breeders’ Cup President and CEO.“It is a tribute to the Breeders’ Cup and we are looking forward to watching stars like California Chrome, Found, Tepin, Songbird and Beholder.”