Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Record Number of Pre-Entries for Breeders Cup 2018

Today, the pre-entries for the 2018 Breeders Cup races at Churchill Downs were announced, with a record-setting number of 221 entries in the fourteen races.  Several horses are pre-entered into several races, and trainers and owners will have to make decisions by Monday, 29 October as to which race they want their horse entered in, as well as who has the most qualifying points in each race.  Twelve of the fourteen races are oversubscribed at the pre-entry stage, since all races - with the exception of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which is limited to 12 runners - are allowed a maximum of 14 starters.  This is to prevent bumping, blocking, and dangerous conditions for the horses while in contention on the  track.
  In an oversubscribed field, the winners of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Races in the corresponding Breeders' Cup division have priority in entering the race. The next horses are ranked at pre-entry based on the total number of American and Canadian graded stakes points they have collected during the year until a total of seven (or six) horses have been ranked based on the Challenge winners and the top graded stakes point earners.  All horses need to accumulate a minimum of 6 points in American or Canadian graded stakes races to be considered for an automatic selection based on points in any Championship race - with the exception of the five juvenile races on Friday, 2 November.
  Collected, who ran second in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, may be excluded from the field this year, if all the preferences hold as expected among the 19 runners pre-entered and there are no defections to other races, or scratches.  Collected, trained by Bob Baffert, finished behind Gun Runner in last year's race; Gun Runner was named Horse of the Year after his win.

Listed below are the pre-entries for the juvenile (2-year-old) races to be run on 2 November.  If the horse is pre-entered into more than one race, there is an asterisk (*) behind his or her name. If the horse won a Breeders' Cup Challenge Race, and has a priority entry, there will be a dollar sign ($) in front of their name.  I will list the name of the race, the distance and the total guaranteed purse, then the pre-entries.

Juvenile Turf Sprint             5.5 furlongs          $1 million
 1.    Bulletin  *
 2.   $  Its Gonna Hurt
 3.    Pocket Dynamo
 4.    Queen of Bermuda (IRE)
 5.    Sergei Prokofiev
 6.   $  Shang Shang Shang
 7.    So Perfect
 8.    Soldier's Call (GB)
 9.    Stillwater Cove
10.  $  Strike Silver
11.  $  Uncle Benny  *
12.   Well Done Fox (GB)
~~~~~~~ Current Cut Off ~~~~~~
13.   Chelsea Cloisters
14.   Moonlight Romance
15.   Big Drink of Water
16.   Comedy (IRE)
17.   Van Beethoven
18.   Legends of War
19.   Stellar Agent  *
20.   Whooping Jay
21.   Mae Never No (IRE)
22.   Backtohisroots
23.   Never No More (IRE)
24.   Tracksmith   *
25.   Dragic
26.   Order And Law  *
27.   Sovereign Impact
28.   All About It

Juvenile Fillies Turf         1 mile (8 furlongs)     $1 million
 1.   Belle Laura
 2.   $  Concrete Rose
 3.   East (GB)
 4.   Hermosa (IRE)
 5.   $  Just Wonderful
 6.   $  La Pelosa (IRE)
 7.   $  Lily's Candle
 8.   My Gal Betty
 9.   Newspaperof record (IRE)
10.   Pakhet
11.   So Perfect
12.   Summering
13.   The Mackem Bullet (IRE)
14.   Varenka
~~~~~~~~ Current Cut Off ~~~~~~~~~
15.   Stellar Agent   *
16.   Lady Prancealot (IRE)
17.   Pivottina (FR)
18.   Princesa Carolina
19.   Winning Envelope

Juvenile Fillies         1 1/16 mile (8.5 furlongs)    $2 million
 1.   Baby Nina
 2.   $  Bellafina
 3.   Cassies Dreamer
 4.   Cookie Dough
 5.   $  Jaywalk
 6.   Reflect
 7.   $  Restless Rider
 8.   $  Serengeti Empress
 9.   $  Sippican Harbor
10.   Splashy Kisses
11.   Vibrance

Juvenile Turf          1 mile (8 furlongs)         $1 million
 1.   Anthony Van Dyck (IRE)
 2.   Arthur Kitt (GB)
 3.   Broome (IRE)
 4.   $  Current
 5.   Forty Under
 6.   Henley's Joy
 7.   King Of Speed
 8.   Line of Duty (IRE)
 9.   Marie's Diamond (IRE)
10.   Opry
11.   Somelikeithotbrown
12.   The Black Album (FR)
13.   Uncle Benny   *
14.   War of Will
~~~~~~~~~ Current Cut Off ~~~~~~~~~
15.   Much Better
16.   Louder Than Bombs
17.   Bulletin   *
18.   Tracksmith   *
19.   Order And Law   *
20.   Flying Scotsman
21.   Empire of War
22.   Pico Entry

Juvenile Colts            1 1/16 mile (8.5 furlongs)      $2 million
 1.   Code Of Honor
 2.   $  Complexity
 3.   Dueling
 4.   $  Game Winner
 5.   Gunmetal Gray
 6.   $  Knicks Go
 7.   Mind Control
 8.   Mr. Money
 9.   Signalman
10.   Standard Deviation
11.   Tight Ten
12.   Topper T
13.   Trophy Chaser
14.   Well Defined
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Current Cut Off ~~~~~~~~~
15.   Derby Date



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