One Week to the Breeders Cup Races!

Next week, thirteen horse races will be run on that will be worth $24.5 million at Santa Anita in California.  Four races on Friday, 31 October have purses totaling $5 million; nine races on Saturday, 1 November, have a combined purse of $19.5 million.  The NBC Sports Network will have taped coverage of Friday's races on Friday evening; they will show eight of the races live Saturday; and the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic will be shown live on regular NBC stations.  There are 201 horses pre-entered in the 13 races.  Actual entries will be known on Tuesday.
   Several top horses will not be racing this year - Beholder spiked a temperature and will not be able to defend her championship; Wise Dan was expected to run in the Mile, but he has a non-displaced cannon bone fracture, and probably won't race again until next year (the poor guy had colic surgery during the summer, then came back and won two races); some promising youngsters have been retired to stud, and, while California Chrome is scheduled to run in the Classic, it is rumored that if he doesn't win, he'll also be retired.  And, as I've stated before, I'm disappointed that the Breeders Cup stopped sponsoring the Marathon race - a race for horses that love to run longer distances and have great staying power.
  One very good piece of news is that jockey Gary Stevens will return to riding on 31 October, in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.  He'll be riding Sivoliere 14 weeks to the day of his complete knee replacement.

Missing:

Beholder

Wise Dan

Present:

California Chrome, 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner

Gary Stevens returns after a complete knee replacement