Breeders' Cup 2020 Post Positions: Friday's Horse Odds, Prize Money Predictions

The Triple Crown races may hold the prestige for casual horse racing fans, but the Breeders' Cup Classic remains one of the most lucrative events on the racing calendar.

The 2020 version of the event is set to go off Saturday from Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, with a post time of 5:13 p.m. ET. A $6 million purse will be on the line. According to the race's official website, the winner is set to earn $3.12 million.

Unlike the Triple Crown races the event is open to four-year-olds and beyond as well as three-year-olds. That means four-year-old and 2019 Kentucky Derby entrant Maximum Security will be included in a field that also features 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic and 2020 Belmont winner Tiz the Law.

It's an extremely talented field, and the stakes are high. Here's a look at the post positions, odds and predictions for the biggest prize-money winners.

Breeders' Cup Classic Odds and Posts

1. Tacitus: 20-1

2. Tiz the Law: 3-1

3. By My Standards: 10-1

4. Tom's d'Etat: 6-1

5. Title Ready: 30-1

6. Higher Power: 20-1

7. Global Campaign: 20-1

8. Improbable: 5-2

9. Authentic: 6-1

10. Maximum Security: 7-2

Odds via BreedersCup.com.

Bob Baffert stands a great chance of adding a fourth Classic win to his resume. He has trained all three horses that will start on the outside in Improbable, Authentic and Maximum Security.

Improbable has the best odds in the lead up to the race. He didn't shine as a Triple Crown entrant as a three-year-old, taking fourth place in the Derby and sixth place in the Preakness. But he's riding a hot streak in 2020 with three straight wins in Grade 1 races in the Gold Cup Stakes, Whitney Stakes and Awesome Again Stakes.

Maximum Security also comes in as an older horse with strong odds. He's one of four Baffert-trained horses in the field and has put together an impressive four-year-old campaign. After winning six of his eight starts as a three-year-old, he has been a money-making machine for his connections in 2020.

He's won three of four starts while racking up over $10 million in earnings. His only loss was a convincing one to Maximum Security down the final stretch at the Awesome Again.

The fact that Authentic faces the longest odds of the Baffert trio is as good a sign of the strength of the field as any. The colt, whose sire is Into Mischief, was the Preakness runner-up and surprise winner of the Derby, where he outdueled Tiz the Law—who is among the favorites in this race as well.

Fans haven't seen Tiz the Law run since the Derby in early September. Rather than chase a second jewel of the Crown, his connections decided to hold out and prepare for this race.

Sitting in the middle of the pack based on the odds is Tom's d'Etat. A seven-year-old, he's the oldest horse in the field but could be a live contender. He's still hitting some of the best speed figures of his career, posting a 117 in his third-place finish at the Whitney Stakes.

Predicted Order of Finish and Prize Payouts

1. Authentic: $3.12 million

2. Maximum Security: $1.02 million

3. Tom's d'Etat: $540,000

4. Higher Power: $300,000

If there's been one thing that has been reliable in horse racing this season, it's unpredictability. The three Triple Crown races produced three different winners, two of which will be in the field Saturday. Each of those races had a clear favorite, and Tiz the Law was the only one to come through in the Belmont.

With older horses in the mix as well for this big money race, it's even more difficult to decipher what's going to happen.

Authentic has been a consistent horse throughout the year. He has six starts this season, and even the two he didn't win he finished second. He's already proved he can outrun Tiz the Law with his upset win at the Derby. Even though he lost to Swiss Skydiver at the Preakness, it wasn't a blowout by any stretch.

He could finish out the year with his biggest performance yet, outrunning a loaded pack at Keeneland.