Breeders' Cup Pre-Entries Whet Appetite for Showdowns

Based on the pre-entries released Oct. 26 for the 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland, a pair of showdowns await in the event's two biggest dirt races. In the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), undefeated Flightline is entered off his runaway victory in the TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) but will have to outrun last year's Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Life Is Good, who this year has won three grade 1 races and has not lost in North America. VIEW: All Horses Pre-Entered in the 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships Meanwhile, the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) offers the always-interesting showdown between an older horse, 4-year-old Malathaat, who earned an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly last year and enters off back-to-back grade 1 wins; and this year's top 3-year-old, Nest, a three-time grade 1 winner this season who also earned a classic placing when second against males in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1). Both fillies are daughters of Curlin and both are trained by Todd Pletcher. Like many of this year's grade 1 races in North America, these races will feature standout horses but small fields. The Classic saw just nine horses pre-entered with one of those, Cyberknife, expected to go in his first-preference Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. The Distaff may be the event's smallest field with just eight fillies and mares pre-entered. Awake At Midnyte's connections listed the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) as first preference but as she's on the outside of that full field, the Distaff may be more likely for her. Most of the races feature plenty of depth as 205 horses, including 73 grade/group 1 winners, seven former or returning Breeders' Cup winners, and 45 runners from overseas, have been pre-entered for the 2022 World Championships. The seven returning or former Breeders' Cup winners pre-entered are Aloha West, Ce Ce, Echo Zulu, Golden Pal, Life Is Good, Modern Games (IRE), and Order of Australia (IRE). The 39th Breeders' Cup World Championships will offer 14 races with purses and awards totaling more than $31 million. On "Future Stars Friday," there will be five World Championships races exclusively for 2-year-olds. There will be nine Breeders' Cup races on the Saturday program. The Breeders' Cup will be televised live domestically on NBC, Peacock, USA Network, and FanDuel TV. Coverage is scheduled Nov. 4 on USA Network and FanDuel TV from 2-6 p.m. ET. Live coverage resumes Nov. 5 on FanDuel TV, which will televise the first eight Breeders' Cup races beginning at 11:50 a.m. The USA Network coverage will be from 1-3:30 p.m. The World Championships conclude from 3:30-6 p.m. on NBC. In addition, 46 pre-entered horses earned fees-paid, automatic starting positions in the World Championship races through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In. "Once again we could not be more proud with the outstanding quality of horses from around the world that have been pre-entered for this year's World Championships for a spectacular two days of racing with our host track partner Keeneland," said Breeders' Cup president and CEO Drew Fleming. "We applaud the men and women across the globe who are preparing these magnificent Thoroughbreds for their ultimate tests of competition on Nov. 4-5. It is also important to recognize our breeders and nominators and their support and commitment in funding the purses and awards for the World Championships." A maximum of 14 starters are allowed in each of the 14 Breeders' Cup races with the exception of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T) and the Dirt Mile, which are limited to 12 starters. Breeders' Cup has adopted a field selection system to select runners in the event fields are oversubscribed. This system ranks horses in order of preference based on (i) Breeders' Cup Challenge race winners, (ii) a points system, and (iii) the judgment of an international panel of racing experts. The field selection system was implemented following the taking of pre-entries Monday, Oct. 24, to officially rank the oversubscribed fields. The Racing Secretaries and Directors Panel ranked all the horses pre-entered in the oversubscribed races as described above. After pre-entry, any vacancies in the fields will be filled by horses in order of panel preference. There will be up to four also-eligible horses for each Championship race, except for the Juvenile Turf Sprint and the Dirt Mile, which will have up to six. The also-eligible horses will be designated in accordance with the panel's order of preference for each Championship race that was oversubscribed at the time of pre-entry. Scratch time for Friday Championship races will be 8 a.m. Nov. 4, and scratch time for Saturday's Championship races will be at 8 a.m. Nov. 5. The pre-entries were announced on a show broadcast by FanDuel TV and streamed by BreedersCup.com.