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  • Track the average odds for the most talked-about horses competing at the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Classic
  • See which thoroughbreds have won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in years past
  • Looking for current Breeders’ Cup Classic odds?

The Breeders’ Cup has been running since 1984 and has evolved into a two-day race at the end of the thoroughbred-racing season. The Breeders’ Cup Classic often decides the Horse of the Year. This year’s 36th Breeders’ Cup Classic is set to run on Saturday, November 2, 2019 at Santa Anita, California.

We’re tracking the odds for each thoroughbred from the time of open up to the big race in November. The main graph on this page has been generated by calculating the average from our most trusted sportsbooks.

Breeders’ Cup Classic Top Contenders

  • October 28: Plenty of odds movement as we lead up to the race this week since last month. Odds have drastically shortened on Yoshida (+2500 to +700) and Vino Rosso (+2100 to +450), while three new horses have emerged in the odds in Owendale, Mongolian Groom and Math Wizard
  • September 18: Elate has seen his odds shorten from +2000 to +1300. Not even on the odds boards last month, Tom’s D’etat and Shancelot are now on offer at +1600 and +2000 respectively
  • August 7: Odds for Mckinzie and Maximum Security continue to shorten from +800 to +550 and +1100 to +850 respectively
  • July 11: While odds on several horses have worsened since May, Mckinzie’s odds have been slowly shortening from +1000 to +900 and now an average of +800
  • May 21: Odds are adjusting for each of Catalina Cruiser and Catholic Boy (+2000 to +1600), as well as on Audible, who saw his odds shorten down to +1600 from the earlier +2500.
  • May 9: Disqualified Kentucky Derby winner Maximum Security, along with Mckinzie, have opened as favorites at +1000.

2019 Breeders’ Cup Classic Odds

Horse Odds
Mckinzie +300
Code of Honor +400
Vino Rosso +450
Elate +600
Yoshida +700
Owendale +1400
Higher Power +1600
Mongolian Groom +2000
Math Wizard +2500
Seeking The Soul +2500
War Of Will +2500

*Odds taken October 28, 2019. For a full list click the link in the table

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Breeders’ Cup Classic Stats

  • Third favorite Thunder Snow was last year’s third-place finisher at the Classic
  • Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has won the Breeders’ Cup Classic three times in the past 10 years. He’s the only jockey to have won on multiple occasions during that time frame
  • Mike Smith has the most overall Breeders’ Cup jockey wins with 26
  • D. Wayne Lucas has the most Breeders’ Cup victories as a trainer with 20
  • The total handle for last year’s two-day Breeders’ Cup event was $163,011,577, which was the fifth-highest since the event took on the two-day format in 2007

Past 10 Breeders’ Cup Classic Winners

Year Horse Jockey Trainer
2018 Accelerate Joel Rosario John W. Sadler
2017 Gun Runner Florent Geroux Steven M. Asmussen
2016 Arrogate Mike Smith Bob Baffert
2015 American Pharoah Victor Espinoza Bob Baffert
2014 Bayern Martin Garcia Bob Baffert
2013 Mucho Macho Man Gary Stevens Katherine Ritvo
2012 Fort Larned Brian Hernandez Jr. Ian Wilkes
2011 Drosselmeyer Mike. Smith W. Mott
2010 Blame G. Gomez A. Stall
2009 Zenyatta Mike. Smith J. Shirreffs

2018’s winner Accelerate finished the 1 1/4 mile race with a time of 2:02.93.

Trainers with the Most Breeders’ Cup Classic Wins

Bob Baffert didn’t produce his first Breeders’ Cup Classic champion until 2014, but he immediately made up for lost time by training each of the next two winning thoroughbreds. Baffert’s horses have now won over 2,800 races including seven Preakness Stakes, five Kentucky Derbies, and three Belmont Stakes.

Jockeys with the Most Breeders’ Cup Classic Wins

Jerry Bailey was nearly synonymous with the Breeders’ Cup Classic during the 1990’s after winning the event four times from 1991 to 1995. The Hall of Fame jockey retired in 2008 after winning 5,893 career races.