A total of 187 thoroughbreds including 45 international entries from have been nominated for the 2017 Breeders Cup races to be run for the first time at Del Mar in California on November 3 and 4.

Arrogate, the defending GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and the world’s all-time leading money earner, heads the list of nine previous Breeders Cup champions nominated.

The other returning former champions are Highland Reel, Drefong, Oscar Performance, Lady Eli, Champagne Room, Queen’s Trust, Finest City and Mongolian Saturday.

Other notables include four-time G1 winner Gun Runner and unbeaten juvenile Bolt d’Oro.

The 34th Breeders’ Cup World Championships wil see 13 G1 races worth $US28 million run over two days.

There will be four Breeders’ Cup races on November 3 and nine on November 4.

Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien is the leading nominator with 14 horses, one more than America’s Chad Brown.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has pre-entered five horses for the Breeders Cup Classic led by Arrogate.

The record number of starters by one trainer in the BC Classic has been three each for Bill Mott in 2012 and the late Bobby Frankel in 1993.

Baffert has won 14 Breeders’ Cup races and will be shooting for his fourth consecutive win in the BC Classic.

His other BC Classic entries include G1 winning 3YO West Coast and G1 winners Mubtaahij and Collected.