As a society, we tend to speak in hyperbole quite a bit. That said, in the case of the Breeders' Cup, we certainly wouldn't be exaggerating saying that this could be the biggest two days in horse racing history.
Of course, the appearance of American Pharoah, the elusive Triple Crown winner is what's going to make this so interesting this year. There's no doubt that American Pharoah was the best three-year old colt in the world this year, but how will he fare against older horses? Beholder, Honor Code, Tonalist, Keen Ice, Frosted, Effinex… these are just some of the top-tier colts who are going to be running in the Breeders' Cup Classic looking to win the richest prize in American horse racing.
Can American Pharoah really pull this feat off of winning both the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic? It's never been done before, but tens of thousands of fans will be in attendance at Keeneland Park and millions more will be watching and betting at home to see if it can happen.
All of the attention on the Breeders' Cup Classic is only going to put more fuel into the fire for the rest of the races on the docket over this two-day festival of the best horses in the world.
There are 11 races this year in the Breeders' Cup, 10 of which are merely the appetizers for the Classic, the race which finishes it all up at 5:35 p.m. ET on Halloween night. All 11 of these races are worth at least $1 million, which is why all of the top colts, fillies and mares come out to strut their stuff.
It all begins on Friday with the Juvenile Turf, as two-year olds will race on the grass in the biggest race in their young careers. The Las Vegas Dirt Mile and the Juvenile Fillies Turf race will also take place on Friday. The showcase race though, is the Longines Distaff, which might be an equally competitive race to what we are going to see in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Two major fillies were expected to be the favorites in this race coming in, Beholder from California and Untapable, the 2014 Longines Distaff champion from the East Coast. But the rest of this field is awesome as well. Curalina, the super-filly of the great Curlin, could be a force to be reckoned with. Frivolous, Got Lucky and Stopchargingmaria will end up headlining this field.
The winner will take home the top prize amongst a $2 million purse.
Saturday is the main slate, though. It's not often that a two-year old champion ultimately goes on to be awesome as a three-year old, but the Sentient Jet Juvenile will still give us a favorite for the Kentucky Derby heading into the New Year.
The Longines Turf is the longest race of the Breeders' Cup now that the Breeders' Cup Marathon is gone, and a whopping $3 million prize pool will be up for grabs for the best grass racers in the world.
Finally, things wrap up at the Breeders' Cup with the TwinSpires Sprint and the Breeders' Cup Mile, two races which declare the best in class, more or less.
Keep a particularly close eye on the Breeders' Cup Mile of all of these Saturday races. There have only been four different winners of this racing dating all the way back to 2008. Now that Wise Dan is out of the division, Karakontie took over last year as a three-year old and won this race out of nowhere. Can he repeat as the one-mile champion again? He'd be the third different colt in the last six years to do so.
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