Pre-Entries Announced for Breeders' Cup Races

Editor's Note -- This article is the first in HorseracingFLA's previews of the Breeders' Cup races that will be run on Friday Nov. 2 and on Sunday Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Our coverage will be daily through Nov. 4 and will consist of articles written by our staff, articles picked up from other publications and edited news releases from  race tracks and other racing organizations.

A big part of our focus will be on horses that have raced at Gulfstream Park and/or at Tampa Bay Downs and horses with other Florida connections.
--Jim Freer


HorseracingFLA Staff Report
Pre-entries were announced on Wednesday for the 2018 Breeders'  Cup  races that will be run on Friday Nov. 2 and on Saturday Nov.3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

There will be five Breeders' Cup races that Friday and nine Breeders' Cup races that Saturday.

The pre-entries are final nominations for Breeders' Cup (BC) races.

Fields will be set and post positions will be drawn on Monday Oct. 29  from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time at an event In Louisville.

Which Horses Get In
In thirteen of the races, the maximum number of entrants is fourteen.  In the Juvenile Turf Sprint, on the Friday card, the maximum is twelve entries.

Twelve of the races are oversubscribed with pre-entries.

Here are the criteria for determining the fields:
*Seven entry spots are reserved for horses that won Breeders' Cup Challenge races (usually  about four per race) and for horses that had the most points in graded stakes races in 2018.

There were 49 "Win and You're In" Breeders' Cup  Challenge races in the United States or Canada and 33 such races in Europe.  Forty-eight BC pre-entered horses won one or more Challenge races.

*The other seven horses are chosen by a  panel of experts, made up of racing directors and racing secretaries at tracks in the United States and Canada.

Each race can have up to two Also Eligibles.

There are 221 pre-entered horses. Twenty-five were cross-entered, in two races, with owners and trainers listing a first preference race.  Thus, some horses that are not in the top 14 pre-entries will be able to get into a BC race.

Lists of the pre-entries and the schedule for races, including TV coverage, may be found  on the Breeders' Cup Web site breederscup.com

Post time on Saturday Nov. 3 is 5:44 p.m. Eastern for the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (Grade 1)  at 1 1/4 miles on dirt for 3-year-olds and up.

Where to Watch
All of the Breeders' Cup races will be televised live on either the NBCSports cable channel or on NBC's network stations.

All Breeders' Cup races will be shown, with bets taken, on major Advance Deposit Wagering platforms--such as Twinspires, Xpressbet and TVG.

On the two Breeders' Cup days, Gulfstream Park  and Tampa Bay Downs will both have full-card simulcasting of the BC races and other races from Churchill Downs.