- Breeders Cup Classic 2016 Picks Straight Up
- Breeders Cup Classic 2014
- Breeders Cup Classic 2016
- Breeders Cup Classic 2016 Picks Against
- Breeders Cup Classic 2016 Picks Odds
You can find his selections for free at Breeders' Cup 2016 Picks. Skiba recently wrote an article for Horse Racing Nation covering strategies on How to Win the $1-million Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge. The Breeders' Cup offers the greatest wagering opportunity of the year, with 13 championship caliber races of full, competitive fields. Two Kentucky Derby winners are among the top-three choices in early odds for the upcoming Breeders' Cup Classic, with California Chrome (2014) at 7-2 and Nyquist (2016) at 10-1 via William Hill US. We’ll do a mythical $2 win bet to see who ends up with with most “cash”, we’ll also keep track of who picks the most winners. Best of luck to all, and be sure to leave your picks in the comments! 2016 Breeders’ Cup Friday Picks.
The pre-entries are in, and we have the best idea yet of what the breeders' Cup Classic field will look like. Things can, and likely will, still change, but the main storylines in this race have been set. That means we can start to look at which horses are contenders and which ones are just along for the ride - hoping for a small piece of a big purse. Fourteen horses were pre-entered for this $6 million race on Nov. 5, with 13 likely to be entered on Monday when things have to be made final. Of that group there are eight that I view as more legitimate contenders than the rest. Here are the eight horses that can win the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2016:
California Chrome: Alright, I finally admit it - he is a good horse. I have looked to beat him pretty much every time he has started since the Santa Anita Derby two years back. That worked well for me in the Belmont and the Breeders' Cup Classic, and for a long time was generally profitable. Over the last year, though, he has emerged as a true beast, dispatching everyone he has faced with authority. He's the cream of the crop and will be a deserving favorite. He has won six straight, including the Dubai World Cup and two big stakes races on this same Santa Anita surface. I respect him. He is probably the most likely to win the race. I'm also likely to look to beat him here, though - at the price he is likely to go off at there are others that are more intriguing and offer better value.
Arrogate: This horse is wildly intriguing, and he makes my head hurt. Heading into the Travers, the biggest race for three year olds of the year outside of the Triple Crown, he was a little-known horse making his stakes debut. The field there was deep and solid. He didn't just beat it; he annihilated it. He won by more than 13 lengths, and that was despite a bit of a rough start. And he was really fast, too. He hasn't raced since. So, he has one stakes win, but he's the fastest horse in the field, his workouts show he is fit, and it seems like he can run forever. Oh, and trainer Bob Baffert has won this race the last two years. So, basically, the next two weeks will consist of me trying to convince myself not to bet on this horse. I may not succeed.
Frosted: The owners were debating, and I really expected them to opt for the Dirt Mile instead of this spot. I kind of wish they had. After a mild performance in the Dubai World Cup, he came back and became the king of the early summer for older horses. His 14-length win in the Metropolitan Handicap was perhaps the most impressive performance by any horse this year, and he followed it up by winning the Whitney easily. The hype dimmed slightly, though, when he was a solidly-beaten third in the Woodward behind Shaman Ghost. The ride he got there was lousy, though, so the result may not have been all his fault. He was solid in his Derby and Belmont, so we know he can handle this distance, but he hasn't done it well lately, and we can't be sure he is in top form. I like this horse a lot, but I'll need a good price to do more than put him in the lower parts of my exotics.
Found: This European filly is wildly talented and could be a factor for sure. You have to be skeptical, though, because of her workload. She won the Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 2 and then came back to be a solid second in the Champion Stakes at Ascot. So this will be her third world-class race in her third country in five weeks. Oh yeah - and she has never run on dirt, either. That is a whole lot to ask - and a whole lot more than is ever really asked of North American horses outside of the Triple Crown. I'd like her a lot more if she was fresh, but she's a piece of it.
Hoppertunity: This is the other Baffert horse here. He is coming off a big win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but he hasn't generally been good enough against the best. I like him to get a piece of the action but not the win.
Breeders Cup Classic 2016 Picks Straight Up
Melatonin: He has won two Grade 1 races at Santa Anita this year, so he has the home-field advantage. He hasn't raced since his last win there in June, though, so we have no way of knowing if he is fresh enough. He has worked reasonably well, but we'd need a real price to get excited about him.
Breeders Cup Classic 2014
Effinex: He was second behind American Pharoah in the Classic last year and has since been in the mix against decent horses in several races. He's a factor for a piece, too - another part of a very deep second tier in this one.
Nyquist: He makes this list because he is the Kentucky Derby winner and because he won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last year. He hasn't been the same since getting burned by a speed duel in the Preakness, though, and I am not expecting him to be any factor at all against this field of primarily older horses. His time has passed - at least for this season.
Breeders Cup Classic 2016
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The preeminent American dirt race, surpassing even the Kentucky Derby in terms of quality, the Classic has been in existence since 1984 when it headlined the original seven-race Breeders’ Cup program at Hollywood Park. A Grade 1 event run at 1 ¼ miles on dirt, the Classic is worth $6 million and is often responsible for crowning America’s Horse of the Year.
The race currently has eight ‘Win and You’re In’ events supporting it: the Grade 1 February Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse, the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs, the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga, the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York, the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont and the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita.
Many of its winners have left an indelible mark on American horse racing, with Sunday Silence out-dueling his rival Easy Goer in 1989; Cigar capping off an undefeated season in 1995; Tiznow winning a second straight Classic in 2001 at Belmont less than two months removed from the events of 9/11; Zenyatta becoming the first mare to win the race in 2009 and then suffering a heartbreaking defeat the following year to Blame; and in 2015 American Pharoah becoming the first horse ever to win the Triple Crown and the Classic, while in the process tying the record for margin of victory in the race.
Odds will appear here when available...
Winners:
Breeders Cup Classic 2016 Picks Against
(US unless noted)
Breeders Cup Classic 2016 Picks Odds
2020 - Authentic
2019 - Vino Rosso
2018 - Accelerate
2017 - Gun Runner
2016 - Arrogate
2015 - American Pharoah
2014 - Bayern
2013 - Mucho Macho Man
2012 - Fort Larned
2011 - Drosselmeyer
2010 - Blame
2009 - Zenyatta
2008 - Raven's Pass
2007 - Curlin
2006 - Invasor (ARG)
2005 - Saint Liam
2004 - Ghostzapper
2003 - Pleasantly Perfect
2002 - Volponi
2001 - Tiznow
2000 - Tiznow
1999 - Cat Thief
1998 - Awesome Again (CAN)
1997 - Skip Away
1996 - Alphabet Soup
1995 - Cigar
1994 - Concern
1993 - Arcangues
1992 - A.P. Indy
1991 - Black Tie Affair (IRE)
1990 - Unbridled
1989 - Sunday Silence
1988 - Alysheba
1987 - Ferdinand
1986 - Skywalker
1985 - Proud Truth
1984 - Wild Again