2023 Breeders’ Cup pre-entries revealed. Expect a clear favorite in the Classic.
Arcangelo was a late arrival to the 2023 Triple Crown series but his emergence as this year’s star 3-year-old has proven to be right on time when it comes to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Arcangelo was one of 18 horses pre-entered Wednesday for the $6 million event to be contested at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 4.
The Classic is one of 14 World Championship races taking place in Arcadia, California, on Nov. 3-4, an event that will bring 205 of the world’s best thoroughbreds together in pursuit of year-end awards and millions of dollars in purses.
Fields were pre-entered for all 14 races Wednesday.
Santa Anita is hosting the Breeders’ Cup for the 11th time, having also welcomed the globe in 2019, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2008, 2003, 1993 and 1986.
The nationally televised Breeders’ Cup Classic, scheduled to go to post at 6:40 p.m. EDT on Nov. 4, is headlined by Arcangelo, a ridgling who has won four of his six career starts including the past four in a row. That four-race win streak includes the final leg of the Triple Crown — the Belmont Stakes — and the “Midsummer Derby” — the Travers Stakes — both of which are Grade 1 races.
“I guess the more this horse does, the more we’re going to keep writing some history,” trainer Jena Antonucci said after Arcangelo won the the $1.25 million Travers in his most recent start on Aug. 26 at Saratoga
In June, Arcangelo made Antonucci the first woman trainer to win a Triple Crown race when he took the Belmont. The Classic’s 1 1/4-mile distance should be of no consequence to the son of Arrogate after wins in the Belmont at 1 1/2 miles and the Travers at 1 1/4.
There will be no repeat winner in the Classic as last year’s champion at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Flightline, has been retired from racing.
Arcangelo’s top challengers include 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, Pacific Classic champion Arabian Knight and Haskell Stakes victor Geaux Rocket Ride. The pre-entered field for the Classic included a full field of 14 plus four also-eligibles. Other top contenders are expected to include Pennsylvania Derby winner Saudi Crown, UAE Derby champion Derma Sotogake from Japan and older horses White Abarrio and Bright Future.
The official fields for the Breeders’ Cup races will be locked in Monday when the post-position draws are conducted beginning at 7:45 p.m. EDT at Pasadena (California) Civic Center (FanDuel TV).
The Classic is one of nine Breeders’ Cup races scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 4, a lineup that also includes the Distaff, Turf, Mile, Sprint, Filly and Mare Turf, Dirt Mile, Turf Sprint and Filly and Mare Sprint.
Friday’s five “Future Stars” races include four fully pre-entered fields of 14 (plus also-eligibles) in the Juvenile Turf, the Juvenile Fillies Turf, the Juvenile Turf Sprint and the Juvenile Fillies. Pre-entries totaled 12 for the Juvenile, a list that included Bob Baffert’s American Pharoah Stakes winner Muth and Todd Pletcher-trained Locked, who won the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity this month at Keeneland.
The 40th Breeders’ Cup, which totals $31 million in purses, will be televised or streamed nationally by NBC, USA, Peacock and FanDuel TV (formerly known as TVG).
2023 Breeders’ Cup
What: World championships of thoroughbred horse racing, including 14 races over two days.
When: Nov. 3-4
Where: Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California
