On paper, Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland certainly looks like a horse race that will live up to its name.
For starters, you have Authentic and Tiz the Law, winners of two of the three Triple Crown races this year and who dueled just two months ago coming down the stretch in the Kentucky Derby, where Bob Baffert’s Authentic gave the Barclay Tagg-trained colt just the second defeat in his career.
Then, there’s a pair of Baffert-trained 4-year-olds, Improbable and Maximum Security. On Sept. 26 in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita, Improbable won his third straight Grade 1 stakes race and ended his stablemate’s six-race winning streak that lasted for more than a year.
At least one of those horses will finish out of the money. Maybe more, a 7-year-old Tom’d d’Etat looks for his third win of the year for trainer Albert Stall.
Those horses highlight a field of 10 that will break the gate at 5:18 pm ET. The race will air on NBC.
Improbable is the morning-line favorite at 5-2, with Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law the second choice at 3-1. Maximum Security, last year’s 3-year-old champion, is at 7-2, while Authentic and Tom’d d’Etat are at 6-1 each.
The full field can be found here.
“Everything is on the Line”
In the mile-and-a-quarter race, Baffert’s trio drew the three outside gates. Improbable will break from eighth, Authentic to his right, and Maximum Security on the outside.
Baffert, the hall of fame trainer who has made news in recent weeks due to some of his horses failing drug tests, said he’s never been in this position where he’s fielded this many “strong” horses in the Classic.
You hate to run all three of them together like that, but for the Breeders’ Cup Classic everything is on the line,” he said. “Championship honors are on the line with horses like Tiz the Law in there. I’ve been watching Tiz the Law and he looks great. It’s going to be a great race with those four horses in there.”
Tiz the Law starts in the second post, while Tom’s d’Etat got the fourth gate.
Breeders’ Cup Distaff Shaping Up for a Duel
On any other day, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the championship race for fillies and mares, would likely command all the attention, and even with the deep field in the Classic, the ladies’ race might produce the best head-to-head competition.
Three-year-old Swiss Skydiver, coming off last month’s historic win in the Preakness Stakes, will face 2018 Distaff champion Monomoy Girl. Kenny McPeek’s Swiss Skydiver has raced nine times in 2020, winning five of those races. Besides the Preakness, she’s also four other stakes races this year.
Brad Cox’s Monomoy Girl missed the 2019 campaign because of an injury, but the mare has won all three of her races this season, including the La Troienne at Churchill Downs on Sept. 4.
“She’s as good as she’s ever been honestly,” said Cox. “It’s scary to see how well she’s moving, how happy she is and how fresh she is. She really likes Keeneland. She spent a lot of time here as a 2-year-old and obviously won the Ashland here and prepared for the Ashland here.”
Monomoy Girl is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the field of 10, and she’ll break from the outside gate. Swiss Skydiver drew the fifth post. The full field can be found here.
Post time for the Distaff is 3:54 pm.
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