NBC Sports will provide comprehensive coverage of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships this Friday and Saturday at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Future Stars Friday, which features 2-year-olds and has the $2 million FanDuel Juvenile Presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as its centerpiece, will air on USA Network from 2-6 p.m. ET. The Juvenile typically stamps the early Kentucky Derby favorite.

The major races on Saturday will be broadcast on USA Network from 1-3:30 p.m. ET before the coverage switches to NBC and Peacock and continues until 6 p.m. ET. The $6 million Longines Classic, featuring undefeated and untested superstar Flightline, has an expected post time of 5:40 p.m. ET. Additional coverage is available at NBC Sports.com and on the NBC app.

Veteran analyst Randy Moss will again play an integral role for the network. He discussed Flightline and other stars set to compete in the season-culminating championships during a wide-ranging interview conducted on behalf of America’s Best Racing:

PEDULLA: Do you applaud the quick return to Keeneland after the pandemic deeply impacted the Breeders’ Cup when it was run there in 2020?

MOSS: Keeneland has done such an amazing job with the two Breeders’ Cups that they’ve had in 2015 and 2020, I thought they deserved a mulligan. I’m kind of all in on the Keeneland slogan, ‘Racing as it is meant to be.’

PEDULLA: In looking at the Breeders’ Cup overall, is there any major change you would advocate?

MOSS: If I was the czar of the Breeders’ Cup, I don’t know that I would be making any changes at all.

PEDULLA: Is Juvenile favorite Cave Rock as good as he looks on paper?

MOSS: He’s certainly checked all the boxes in the races where we’ve seen him so far. I think he will be the second heaviest favorite in the Breeders’ Cup after Flightline, and I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be.

PEDULLA: Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher certainly has a strong hand. Which of his horses do you see as his best hope?

Repole family with Chocolate Gelato (Eclipse Sportswire)

MOSS: He’s running Nest against Malathaat (in the Longines Distaff), which is a pretty tough duo to try to separate. Chocolate Gelato in the Juvenile Fillies will be his other favorite, so I think it would be one of those two races. But he is loaded with some outstanding chances in other races, even if those horses won’t be the betting favorites.

PEDULLA: Cody’s Wish is certainly a sentimental favorite in the Dirt Mile. Can he deliver?

MOSS: Absolutely. His win over Jackie’s Warrior at Saratoga was a case of Cody’s Wish simply outrunning the top sprinter in the country on the up and up. Jackie’s Warrior ran his race and Cody’s Wish just topped him. A mile is certainly an acceptable distance for Cody’s Wish and, obviously, a win by Cody’s Wish would be a fantastic story.

PEDULLA: Can Jackie’s Warrior earn an elusive Breeders’ Cup win in the Qatar Racing Sprint?

MOSS: It has been elusive for him. In both of his Breeders’ Cup races, he was the second heaviest favorite on the entire Breeders’ Cup weekend. The first time, in the Juvenile, he was simply running at a distance that was beyond his maximum effectiveness as we’ve now come to realize. And then, for some reason at Del Mar last year, he wasn’t the Jackie we’ve come to expect. I couldn’t find a tangible excuse. Although he doesn’t know it, he’s out for vindication.

PEDULLA: Who do you see as the top runner or runners from overseas?

MOSS: They’ve got a strong contingent, if you take it race by race. Mishriff might be the most interesting of the runners because if he were to win the Turf, he would become the richest horse to compete in a Breeders’ Cup. His career earnings would top Arrogate. But he doesn’t seem to be running at the same level as he was a year ago, so we’ll see if he can pull it off.

War Like Goddess (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)

PEDULLA: Can War Like Goddess beat the boys in the Turf?

MOSS: Yes. She has a fighting chance. I don’t think she will be the favorite. Charlie Appleby will be tough to beat with his duo. The Europeans have dominated the Turf in recent years. But she is definitely, in my opinion, the best mile-and-half turf horse of either sex in the USA.

PEDULLA: Who do you view as a live longshot?

MOSS: Elite Power (Sprint), if he goes off at 7-1 or 8-1, he’s looked really good against lesser competition.

PEDULLA: What about Iowa-bred Tyler’s Tribe?

MOSS: He’s obviously a tremendously fast horse. But also, obviously he’s never faced close to the caliber of competition that he’s going to be running against. Also, he’s going to have to make the transition to turf, which, from a pedigree perspective, doesn’t look to be an insurmountable issue. I think the main problem with Tyler’s Tribe is how he’s going to handle the pace pressure that he’s never had to deal with. So, I wouldn’t include him on my list of live longshots.

PEDULLA: Does the mile and a quarter hurt Life Is Good in the Classic?

MOSS: I don’t think it’s his best distance. To me, Life Is Good would be at his maximum effectiveness at a mile. Against the right competition with the right set-up, he could win a major race at a mile and a quarter. But having to do it with the kind of pressure that theoretically he’s going to be getting from Flightline, it makes his task even tougher.

Flightline (BENOIT photo)

PEDULLA: Who do you see as the greatest threat to Flightline?

MOSS: Epicenter. If Flightline loses, to me it’s most likely that Epicenter or Taiba would capitalize. I loved both of their last races. I thought Epicenter’s Travers was just a touch faster than Taiba’s Pennsylvania Derby, but both were outstanding races. The mile and a quarter will be no issue for either horse.

PEDULLA: Do you expect Flightline to dominate?

MOSS: To any student of the sport, this is a really exciting moment because you might get a chance to see something you could tell your grandchildren about. It’s too bad Flightline did not sweep the Triple Crown or win 19 races in a row the way Zenyatta did because I feel he is not getting the recognition he deserves in the mainstream sports media. This horse has a chance in the Classic to put his name right alongside Secretariat and Man o’ War as the best horses that have run in the last century plus. His Pacific Classic was that good. If he goes out and runs another race similar to what he did at Del Mar, then in my eyes he would be side by side with Secretariat as the best horses I’ve ever seen run in my lifetime.