Arabian Knight comes into the 40th Breeders' Cup as a lightly raced 3-year-old with just four career starts, but the Bob Baffert-trained Uncle Mo colt was installed the 3-1 morning line favorite in a field of 13 runners set to go postward in Saturday's $6-million, Grade 1 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.
Owned by Zedan Racing, Arabian Knight has won three of his starts, most recently going wire to wire in his first G1 victory in Del Mar's Pacific Classic at the same 1 1/4-mile distance at the seaside course on Sept. 2.
Arcangelo, a dual G1 winner of the Belmont Stakes and Travers, was made second choice at 7-2 and drew the inside post. The Arrogate colt races for Blue Rose Farm and is trained by Jena Antonucci. Third choice on the morning line is White Abarrio, winner of the G1 Whitney at Saratoga Aug. 5 in his last start. Rick Dutrow trains White Abarrio, a 4-year-old by Race Day, for C Two Racing Stable and Antonio Pagnano.
Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., will be hosting the Breeders' Cup for the 11th time on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 3-4.
Five of the 13 horses entered in the Classic are 3-year-olds, including the two favorites. In the 39 runnings of the Classic, there have been 13 editions won by 3-year-olds, four of them trained by Baffert in the last 10 years: Bayern (2014), Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (2015), Arrogate (2016), and Authentic (2020). Three-year-olds carry 122 pounds compared to 126 for older horses.
The Classic field lost two leading 3-year-olds over the weekend, G1 Haskell winner Geaux Rocket Ride and G1 Kentucky Derby winner Mage. Geaux Rocket Ride sustained a career-ending, life-threatening injury during a Saturday morning workout and underwent surgery on Sunday. Mage was taken out of consideration on Sunday after having an elevated temperature prior to shipping from Kentucky to California.
There will be a total of 10 races (five Breeders' Cup races) on the first day of the Championships – “Future Stars Friday” – and 12 races on the Saturday program (nine Breeders' Cup races). The Friday program begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with four undercard races. The first Breeders' Cup race on Friday will be the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1), which will have a post time of 5 p.m. ET. The Prevagen Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) (Race #9) will be the final Breeders' Cup race of the day with a post time of 7:40 p.m. ET. A Santa Anita allowance race (Race #10) will conclude the first-day card.
Championship Saturday's first post is 1:10 p.m. ET and begins with two undercard races. The $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) (Race #9) will have a post time of 6:40 p.m. ET. The Classic will be followed by the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) (Race #10) at 7:25 p.m. ET, and the $2 million Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at 8 p.m. ET. Saturday's program will conclude with a Santa Anita allowance race (Race #12) with a post time of 8:30 p.m. ET.
USA Network and FanDuel TV will both televise the first day of this year's World Championships. USA Network coverage will take place from 4-8 p.m. ET / 1-5 p.m. PT and will include one undercard race and all five Breeders' Cup races, concluding with the Prevagen Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. FanDuel TV coverage will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT with the first undercard race and will conclude with undercard Race 10.
The USA Network coverage on Saturday begins at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT followed by an extended 3 1/2 hours of live programming on NBC and Peacock from 3:30 – 7 p.m. ET / 12:30 – 4 p.m. PT that will feature five World Championship races, including the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. NBC Sports will provide continued coverage of the final two Breeders' Cup races on Peacock starting at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. These races will also stream live on BreedersCup.com and Breeders' Cup social media channels.
FanDuel TV will televise the first two undercard races and all Breeders' Cup World Championships races, except the Classic, on Saturday.
FUTURE STARS FRIDAY RACES
SATURDAY'S RACES
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