Breeders' Cup 2015 Entries: Classic Lineup Odds and Predictions for Entire Field
It's Breeders' Cup time, which means all eyes in the equine world will be on Triple Crown winner American Pharoah when the horses post at 5:35 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon.
According to Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden, Saturday's race will be the final time American Pharoah hits the track, as the three-year-old gets set for a move into retirement.
But before breaking down how likely a ride into the sunset is for Pharoah, here's a look at how Vegas sees things shaking out.
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| 1 | Tonalist | 13-2 |
| 2 | Keen Ice | 12-1 |
| 3 | Frosted | 16-1 |
| 4 | American Pharoah | 5-4 |
| 5 | Gleneagles | 16-1 |
| 6 | Effinex | 50-1 |
| 7 | Smooth Roller | 16-1 |
| 8 | Hard Aces | 50-1 |
| 9 | Honor Code | 6-1 |
| Scratch | Beholder | N/A |
Preview
At this point, it's Pharoah and everyone else. Five-year-old Beholder figured to provide the stiffest test Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky, but bleeding in her lung scratched those plans.
"We can’t put her under the pressure of a race," Beholder's trainer Richard Mandella said Thursday, per the New York Times' Tom Pedulla.
According to Odds Shark, Beholder was originally listed at 4-1, giving her the second-best odds behind the prohibitive favorite.
So now the search is on. Can another horse compete with Pharoah's speed? At this rate, it doesn't look likely.
This season, American Pharoah has made seven starts and won six of them. The one second-place finish came in August's Travers Stakes, when Keen Ice—slated to start in the second post position—pulled off a stunner and defeated the Triple Crown winner.
That win could conceivably be a confidence builder, but 12-1 odds don't paint an optimistic picture. According to the Asbury Park Press' Steven Falk, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. will be riding Keen Ice for the first time when Saturday's $5 million ride gets underway.
And if history has been any indication, Keen Ice's superior finish at the Travers likely represented the exception, not the rule.
"American Pharoah has finished ahead of Keen Ice three of the four times they have run against each other and ahead of Frosted all three times they have run against each other," Falk wrote.
American Pharoah hasn't competed in nine weeks, so the extra rest should do some good come Saturday. After closing out his Triple Crown bid in epic fashion at Belmont Park in June, American Pharoah had nearly two months off before competing at Monmouth Park.
A win at Monmouth kept Pharoah's 2015 season perfect at the time, but the horse was thrust back into action just under a month later at Travers. That heavy load ultimately contributed to Pharoah's second-place finish in Saratoga, but the nine-week layoff since that loss should have the favorite rested and ready to go Saturday.
Prediction: 1. American Pharoah 2. Honor Code 3. Keen Ice
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