American Pharoah, Beholder Set for History

Triple Crown winner American Pharoah will aim to give fans one more memorable win.

A win by Beholder would make the mare the all-time earnings leader in Breeders' Cup history.

Those two will garner the most interest in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), a 1 1/4-mile race Oct. 31 at Keeneland that offers no shortage of interesting storylines with a 10-horse field that includes nine group I/grade I winners. 

Some of the other accomplished horses include Honor Code, who swept this year's NYRA.com Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) and Whitney Stakes (gr. I); Tonalist, who enters off a victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) for a second straight year; and Gleneagles, who boasts classic wins in England and Ireland this season.

But it's Zayat Stables' American Pharoah who will be the star going into the race as the first U.S. Triple Crown winner to ever start in the Breeders' Cup. Earlier this year he broke a 37-year Triple Crown drought that dated to before the existence of the World Championships. The Pioneerof the Nile   colt drew post 4 and was installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite.

A win in his final career start Saturday would move American Pharoah's 3-year-old season higher by anyone's standards. It would mark his second grade I score after his Triple Crown sweep. Of the three Triple Crown winners of the 1970s, only Secretariat managed to register a grade I win in his 3-year-old season after the classics.

After American Pharoah's victory in this year's William Hill Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I) Ahmed Zayat said the brilliant runner could add to his legacy with a victory against older horses. While American Pharoah finished a hard-fought second against 3-year-olds in the Travers Stakes (gr. I), he'll get his one crack at his elders Saturday.

Since the Travers, American Pharoah has been working steadily in Southern California, including his final career breeze Oct. 26 for trainer Bob Baffert, who will be looking for a second straight Classic win after scoring with Bayern last season. 

BALAN: American Pharoah Records Final Workout

American Pharoah's knack to deliver top efforts with a smoothness that has allowed him to quickly bounce back—an ability on full display in his Triple Crown sweep—also has served him well in his regular works the past two months. A handy six furlong move Oct. 20 at Santa Anita Park in a bullet 1:10 4/5 certainly offered promise of one more top race.

"He's what they used to call in the olden days 'Hickory.' That's Pharoah. He's been able to withstand so much, the racing, the shipping, and he just keeps his head in the feed bucket," Baffert said. "He has the demeanor to handle things; a very kind horse. ... One thing I've noticed about him is that when I really start getting after him and start working him, he likes that. He thrives on work."

While a Triple Crown winner looks to create magic one more time, Spendthrift Farm's Beholder will try to win a Breeders' Cup race for a third time and join Zenyatta as the only females to win the Classic. A victory in North America's richest race would vault the two-time Eclipse Award winner to the top of the Breeders' Cup earnings list as she already has banked $2,180,000 largely behind her 2012 Grey Goose Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) win and her 2013 Distaff (gr. I) score.

Beholder drew the outside post in the field of 10 and is the morning-line second choice at odds of 3-1.

The 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes has won all five of her starts this season, including an 8 1/4-length romp against males in the TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (gr. I). Trainer Richard Mandella won the 2003 Classic with Pleasantly Perfect—a year he won four Breeders' Cup races—but said Beholder is in her own class.

"I can't say she's similar to anybody I've had," Mandella said. "I mean I've had some very good horses, but her character and personality is just very special. And she does bring her best to the race and that's the important thing."

Beholder had her final pre-Breeders' Cup breeze Oct. 26 as well, but at Keeneland.

ANGST: Beholder Delivers Monday 'Maintenance' Work

The most accomplished older males in the field are classic winner Tonalist and Honor Code, who is from the final crop of leading sire A.P. Indy. 

Robert S. Evans' Tonalist became just the 11th horse to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup in consecutive years, and trainer Christophe Clement thought last year's Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner may be moving forward after a season in which the son of leading sire Tapit   has run well but settled for placings in the Met Mile, Suburban Handicap (gr. II), and Whitney.

"He's back to what I always believed," Clement said after the Oct. 3 win. "He's a top class horse. ... Every start this year, I wouldn't have traded my position with anyone else, even when we got beat. People forget about him, but I never forgot about him."

Tonalist will be looking for his first stakes win away from Belmont Park in the Classic but the distance should be in his favor as all three of his grade I wins have come at 1 1/4 miles or longer.

ANGST: In Some Ways, a Most Unexpected Classic Field

Honor Code, campaigned by Lane's End Racing and breeder Dell Ridge Farm, is just the ninth horse to win the Met Mile and the Whitney in the same season. Making his final Breeders' Cup prep, the son of A.P. Indy finished third at 3-5 odds in the Oct. 3 Kelso Handicap (gr. II) at Belmont, but trainer Shug McGaughey believes his handsome late-running 4-year-old will be ready Saturday.

Other older males in the field include Tri-Bone Stables' Suburban winner Effinex, Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes (gr. I) winner Hard Aces, and Awesome Again Stakes (gr. I) winner Smooth Roller.

American Pharoah is not the only 3-year-old entered to win more than one classic this season. Trainer Aidan O'Brien will send out Gleneagles, who captured this year's QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-I) and the Tattersalls Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-I). Campaigned by Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith, the Galileo (IRE) colt will be making his first career dirt start in the Classic.

A year after 3-year-olds nailed down the top six positions in the Classic, the field also will include improving Travers winner Keen Ice. Also entered is grade I winner Frosted, who most recently won the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II) Sept. 19 at Parx. Trainer Dale Romans does not think Keen Ice's Travers victory over American Pharoah was a fluke.

"There's no bigger fan that I am of American Pharoah, but I think he had his 'A game' (in the Travers). I think that our horse has just matured," Romans said. "Where Pharoah was much more mature than the rest of the crop in the spring, our horse has matured and ran the best race of the day."

ANGST: 'A Real Man,' Keen Ice Gears Up for Classic