What we know now is defending champion Forever Young will take on a pair of Kentucky Derby (G1) winners in Sovereignty and Golden Tempo in $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Pre-entries were taken Wednesday for the $34 million, 14-race, two-day Breeders' Cup extravaganza, and the Breeders' Cup Classic looks to be one for the ages depending on what takes place when final entries are declared on Oct. 26.
A field of 11 was pre-entered for the 1 ¼-mile Breeders' Cup Classic (post time 6:16 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock), led by Japan's superstar 5-year-old Forever Young, fresh from his victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) last month at Belmont.
Also pre-entered were Knightsbridge, the Pacific Classic (G1) winner, Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Napoleon Solo and Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner Further Ado. The trio was also pre-entered in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) as a second preference.
The other Breeders' Cup Classic pre-entries are Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Magnitude, two-time Suburban Stakes (G2) winner Phileas Fogg, Pennsylvania Derby (G1) winner The Puma, Forged Steel and T O Password. The latter two also were pre-entered in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile as a first preference.
No matter who runs or many run, Forever Young will likely be the morning-line favorite, with 2025 Horse of the Year Sovereignty and winner of the Whitney Stakes (G1) over the summer also a top choice. The only other horse to win the Classic twice was Tiznow in 2000 and 2001.
Forever Young, trained by Yoshito Yahagi, has won 12 of 16 career races for earnings of more than $32 million.
Global giant Godolphin owns Sovereignty and Knightsbridge, both trained by Bill Mott, will likely separate their two stars with Knightsbridge then being the likely favorite in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
The other 13 Breeders' Cup races, all Grade 1s, continued the parade of stars with Nitrogen and Splendora topping the pre-entries for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Ethical Diamond back to defend his title in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1), and trainer Bob Baffert's unbeaten Hughes the likely top choice in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
Other Breeders' Cup race winners pre-entered are Cy Fair, Full Serrano, Gstaad, Immersive, Nobals, Notable Speech, Shisospicy, Splendora, Starlust and Super Corredora.
A record total of 255 pre-entries were taken (32 were pre-entered in two races), reducing the number of horses to 222, including 79 international runners.
A total of 58 horses pre-entered qualified through the Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In'' Challenge Series. Keeneland will host the Breeders' Cup for the fourth time, the most recent in 2022.
Richard Rosenblatt is an award-winning journalist and former Associated Press Horse Racing Editor. Currently, he serves as the news editor at US Racing, overseeing exclusive content from contributors worldwide.
