Breeders' Cup 2014: Top Storylines to Follow at Santa Anita

The Breeders' Cup strikes back with a record 201 pre-entries for 13 races over two days of the highest-quality package of racing in the world. This is a horse player's all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet: No matter how much he binges, he's hungry for another rolling Pick 3 in 30 minutes.

It's a bummer that horses like defending two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, Travers runner-up Wicked Strong and fan favorite Game On Dude won't be competing, but there are a number of storylines that make this 31st renewal of the Breeders' Cup every bit as thrilling as Zenyatta charging down the lane.

There’s California Chrome, the Derby winner, looking to win his first race since the Preakness. There's Bayern, the amazingly flashy winner of the Haskell Invitational and the Pennsylvania Derby. Then there's the unbeaten Shared Belief. That's just three horses in the Classic field. 

Don't be mistaken. This Breeders' Cup promises to be as electric as any of its predecessors. Read on to see some of the bigger storylines from Santa Anita.

Will Bob Baffert Win His First Classic?

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

For all of Bob Baffert's accomplishments—three Kentucky Derby wins, five Preakness wins, one Belmont Stakes and nine Breeders' Cup wins—he hasn't won the big one.

This year he has Bayern, the incredibly fast son of Offlee Wild. Bayern was on the Derby trail early in the year but was short on points and seemingly short on stamina. He ran in the Derby Trial and was disqualified to second. It appeared he'd be best sprinting, and that was validated by his smashing win in the Woody Stephens.

Then came the Haskell and the Pennsylvania Derby where this horse ran off the screen, destroying the Derby winner in the latter. Still, Bayern is going to have some company on the front end, and that could do him in.

"You've got Moreno," said Baffert of the Whitney winner. "He's got a lot of speed."

It won't be easy for Bayern, but if he catches a speed-biased track, Baffert may have his first Classic winner.

Can the 2013 Breeders' Cup Champions Repeat?

There's no Wise Dan or Mucho Macho Man in this years Breeders' Cup, last year's champion miler and Classic winner, respectively. Both bowed out with injuries.

Despite their exits, there are still plenty of champions in several divisions looking to repeat. Goldencents returns in the Dirt Mile. He's a horse that can win on the front end and draw clear the moment he gets the slightest bit of slack in the reins. See last year's Usain Bolt-esque effort.

Steve Rothblum, assistant to suspended trainer Doug O'Neill, said of Goldencents:

"

He's going to run huge. I still think it's probably a coin toss, but with all the horses coming to the Sprint, I think the (Dirt) Mile probably looks like the place he's going to end up. The worst that can happen is he wins the Mile and is a repeat winner. If it were up to me, I'd go to the Classic. If we're going to try something for his last hurrah, let's do that.

"

There's also Secret Circle in the Sprint and Dank in the Filly and Mare Turf. These returning champs will pick up Wise Dan and MMM's slack for sure.

They're all deserving favorites and likely repeat champs.

How Will Todd Pletcher's 2-Year-Olds Fare?

Hans Pennink/Associated Press

The Pletcher Industrial Complex continues to roll. The shingle hanging outside his barn says "two-year-olds," and he's got four precocious babies—two colts and two fillies—ready to assert themselves to the head of Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks lists for 2015. Pletcher is the Bill Belichick of horse racing.

Carpe Diem, winner of the Futurity at Keeneland, was explosive, widening down the stretch under a hand ride by Hall of Famer John Velazquez. Velazquez said in The Blood-Horse:

"

He was a little difficult in the gate. I tried to settle him behind horses and teach him a little bit. He got a little aggressive and I didn't want to fight him so I just let him be what he wanted to be in the backstretch and then he settled very well. Once he got head and head with that other horse, he got on the bit again. He was going good the whole way.

"

Pletcher won the Juvenile with Shanghai Bobby in 2012. Winning these races rarely translates into a combustible three-year-old campaign, but Pletcher knows a thing or two about two-year-olds. His contingent led by Carpe Diem and Daredevil in the Juvenile and Angela Renee and Feathered in the Juvenile Fillies has Pletcher, once again, loaded for bear.

Who Will Be Champion 3-Year-Old?

Bill Denver/Associated Press

The Kentucky Derby winner always gets the benefit of the doubt as Champion Three-Year-Old until the fall. Should he win the Preakness, he buys himself a larger line of credit. By the fall, some other late-blooming challengers rise up to contend. Look no further than Tonalist and Bayern.

Tonalist upset California Chrome, our resident Derby winner, in the Belmont Stakes. Tonalist lost in the Jim Dandy and the Travers but beat older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Bayern was on the Derby trail but had some distance concerns and inadequate points. He's the fastest horse in the field over nine furlongs. His wins in the Haskell Invitational and the Pennsylvania Derby (over Chrome) are proof of that. His one try at 10 furlongs (the Travers at Saratoga) yielded a disappointing last-place finish.

And this doesn't even mention Shared Belief, the Classic favorite. He missed the entire Triple Crown and seems stronger for it.

A victory by Tonalist, Bayern or Shared Belief will win the Eclipse. The other three-year-old in this field may have something to say about that. You may remember him...

Can California Chrome Reclaim His Spring Form?

California Chrome hasn't won a race since May 17. That race was the Preakness. Chrome looked the part, and it looked as if the Triple Crown was his.

He got a fair shot in the Belmont and just didn't fire. Twelve furlongs after running peak efforts in the Derby and Preakness was far too much to ask. He got a long rest after suffering a hoof injury and came back for the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx.

Chrome was bottled up and couldn't make a clear run. Bayern set a track record that day.

So what do we make of California Chrome? A win and he's Champion Three-Year-Old and Horse of the Year. A loss—especially to either Bayern or Tonalist—and he wins neither.

"I'm just so happy the way he's been training these last three weeks," Art Sherman, Chrome's trainer, told The Sacramento Bee. "I've got one more blowout this Saturday and that'll be the last tuneup for him."

Chrome won the Santa Anita Derby back in April over this very track. It was a smashing win. So long as Chrome gets a clean trip, he'll have a good shot at defeating the other three-year-olds and maybe even the unbeaten Shared Belief.

We haven't seen a Derby winner run in the Classic since 2009 (Mine That Bird), so let's see how this shakes out.

Can Wise Dan Still Win Horse of the Year from the Sideline?

Wise Dan, the sidelined two-time defending Horse of the Year, could still win the honor despite missing the Breeders' Cup with an injury.

He'll fail to defend his two wins in the Mile and will need some help if he's to win his third Horse of the Year. What a year he's had, and not just on the track. He won the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile, the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch and the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile.

After the Woodford, he had emergency colic surgery and came back to win the Baruch. Imagine Peyton Manning coming back from his neck surgery in half the time to have an MVP season. That's Wise Dan.

And if the Classic blows up with unexpected long shots muddying up the board, that brings Wise Dan into the Horse of the Year discussion. That's what happened in 2013.

As Art Wilson of the Los Angeles Daily News writes, "Take last year, for instance. Game On Dude was considered a cinch for Horse of the Year until he struggled home ninth in the Classic and Wise Dan, who had won his second consecutive Breeders’ Cup Mile one race earlier, took home the hardware."

Wise Dan can still win Horse of the Year so long as the unbeaten Shared Belief loses handily in the Classic, California Chrome loses and even the streaking turf star Main Sequence fails to win his fourth straight Grade 1.

Wise Dan is the sentimental favorite, and it will take monumental efforts from some other name horses to surmount him.

Can Untapable Cap Off the Year with a Win?

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

When it comes to fillies, Untapable is unstoppable.

The three-year-old daughter of Tapit won all her races against her own class, three of those in Grade 1s. Her only loss in 2014 was against the boys in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, where she finished fifth to monster-in-the-making Bayern.

Now Untapable steps into more unknown territory: mares in the Distaff. And waiting for her is last year's Distaff runner-up, Close Hatches.

Close Hatches has won four of five starts this year, including three Grade 1s. She failed to fire in the Spinster at Keeneland (fourth place), but if she rebounds, she is the mare to beat.

Scott Blasi, assistant to Untapable's trainer Steve Asmussen, said, "She's a little cocky right now."

Maybe that's a sign Untapable is sitting on a big effort.