The upcoming weekend in horse racing is jam-packed with important races on the road to the 40^th annual Breeders’ Cup World Championships, with 12 Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” preps scheduled from Sept. 29-Oct. 4. Seven of those are overseas, highlighted by the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe set for Oct. 1 at Longchamp in France. The remaining five are in the U.S., with three at Belmont at the Big A (Aqueduct) in New York and single preps at Churchill Downs in Kentucky and Santa Anita Park in California. Santa Anita is the host for the 2023 Breeders’ Cup, set for Nov. 3-4.

In addition to the Challenge Series races, several other stakes are on the weekend calendar that have been historically significant in sending participants on to excel at the Breeders’ Cup, led by the historic Woodward Stakes.

Read on for an overview of the upcoming “Win and You’re In” qualifiers and other key races.

Awesome Again Stakes

Where: Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, Calif.

When: Saturday, Sept. 30

How to watch: FanDuel TV

“Win and You’re In” for: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic

Mucho Macho Man in 2013. (BENOIT photo)

Why it’s important: This 1 1/8-mile race is the final West Coast prep for the $6 million Longines Classic, and leading contenders based in California have often used it to tune up for the big race going all the way back to the 1980s (it was named the Goodwood Stakes until 2012). Five horses have won both races in the same year – Ferdinand (1987), Tiznow (2000), Pleasantly Perfect (2003), Mucho Macho Man (2013), and Accelerate (2018) – and several other Awesome Again winners have trained on to hit the board in the Classic.

Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Hall of Famer Tiznow gets the edge among the strong fivesome listed above as he won the Awesome Again and Breeders’ Cup Classic as a 3-year-old in 2000. The Jay Robbins-trained son of Cee’s Tizzy posted hard-fought wins in both races, defeating Captain Steve by a half-length at Santa Anita and then Europe’s “Iron Horse,” Giant’s Causeway, by a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. Tiznow then became the only back-to-back winner of the Classic in 2001 when he outfought another Europe-based star, Sakhee, at Belmont Park.

Last year’s results: Defunded defeated stablemate and 2022 Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer by 1 ¾ lengths in a gate-to-wire victory. The Bob Baffert trainee did not run in the Longines Classic at Keeneland and has won two of six starts as a 5-year-old in 2023, including the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes.

2023 field: Defunded aims for a repeat bid in the Oct. 1 Awesome Again, where he will face 3-year-olds Skinner and National Treasure (the Preakness Stakes winner) as well as Slow Down Andy, who finished third in last year’s race.

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe

Where: Longchamp Racecourse, Paris, France

When: Sunday, Oct. 1

How to watch: FS2, FanDuel TV

“Win and You’re In” for: Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf

Enable and Dettori at the 2018 Arc. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Why it’s important: The Arc, Europe’s premier race for older horses, was officially made a Challenge Series race in 2019. It has been won by many legendary turf campaigners through the years, and many Arc entrants have made the trip overseas to compete in the Breeders’ Cup. Up until 2018, no horse had ever won the Arc and then a Breeders’ Cup race in the same year, but several Arc also-rans improved their lot once in North America, examples including Daylami (won BC Turf in 1999), High Chaparral (won BC Turf in 2002 and in 2003, the latter in a dead heat), Shirocco (won BC Turf in 2005), Conduit (won BC Turf in 2008 and 2009), and St Nicholas Abbey (won BC Turf in 2011).

Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Juddmonte Farms’ Enable broke through to win the Arc and the Longines Turf in 2018, cementing her status as one of the best grass horses of the 21^st century. The John Gosden trainee had already won the English Oaks, Irish Oaks, and Arc as a 3-year-old in 2017. After her neck win over Sea of Class in the 2018 Arc, she shipped to Churchill Downs and defeated another sensational filly, Coolmore’s Magical, by three-quarters of a length under star jockey Frankie Dettori. Enable raced for two more years with continued success before retiring in 2020 having earned more than $14 million.

2023 contenders: Unbeaten 3-year-old Ace Impact headlines the prospective field for this year’s Arc. The Jean-Claude Rouget trainee won the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) in June and enters the Arc off of a three-quarter-length win in a Group 2 race in France on Aug. 15. He will attempt the mile-and-a-half distance for the first time in the Arc, which will also be his first race on Longchamp’s turf.

Vosburgh Stakes

Where: Aqueduct, Queens, N.Y.

When: Sunday, Oct. 1 (Please note: the race was postponed a day from Saturday to Sunday due to inclement weather forecasts in New York.) 

How to watch: FS2

“Win and You’re In” for: Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint

Why it’s important: The Vosburgh, held at its current distance of six furlongs since 2005, is a marquee race for sprinters and has a long influence on the Breeders’ Cup. While only two horses have won the Vosburgh and Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the same year (see below), five also-rans in the Vosburgh rebounded to earn victories in the Sprint weeks later. In addition, the 2003 Vosburgh winner was stretched out in the next season by trainer Bobby Frankel and became one of the best horses of this century, shining brightest at Lone Star Park when winning the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic. His name: Ghostzapper.

Best winner during the Breeders’ Cup era: Artax won seven of 25 starts and earned $1.68 million during the late 1990s and reached peak form at the very end of his career with wins in the ’99 Vosburgh, Forest Hills Handicap, and then the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Gulfstream Park. That said, last year’s dual winner (and champion male sprinter) Elite Power has already bankrolled over $2.7 million and has continued to excel as a 5-year-old this year for owner Juddmonte and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, winning three of four stakes races. New York-based Elite Power will skip this weekend’s Vosburgh and is expected to train up to a repeat bid in the Qatar Racing Sprint.

2023 field: Last year’s Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner and fan favorite Cody’s Wish is listed as a probable starter in the Vosburgh as he has a final tune-up for his own repeat bid in the World Championships.

Ack Ack Stakes

Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.

When: Saturday, Sept. 30

How to watch: FanDuel TV

“Win and You’re In” for: Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile

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Why it’s important: The Ack Ack, held at a one-turn mile at Churchill, was added to the Challenge Series in 2022. Since its first running in 1991, very few Ack Ack runners have gone on to compete with distinction at the Breeders’ Cup. One that did was $3.4 million earner Seeking the Soul, who won the Ack Ack by 1 ¼ lengths in 2018 and then a little over a month later ran again under the Twin Spires and finished second to City of Light in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile for trainer Dallas Stewart.

Last year’s results: Senor Buscador earned a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile at Keeneland after posting a 1 ¼-length win in the Ack Ack. He finished eighth in the Dirt Mile won by Cody’s Wish, while Ack Ack third-place runner Three Technique finished sixth.

2023 field: Zozos, who has won three of five starts in 2023 including two stakes races, leads a seven-horse field for this year’s Ack Ack that also includes Three Technique, who enters off of a win in the John A. Nerud Stakes.

Pilgrim Stakes and Miss Grillo Stakes

Where: Aqueduct, Queens, N.Y.

When: Wednesday, Oct. 4 (Please note: the races were postponed from Sunday to Wednesday due to inclement weather forecasts in New York forcing the cancellation of Saturday's card. With Saturday's races pushed back a day to Sunday, the entire Sunday card will be held on Wednesday.) 

How to watch: FS2

“Win and You’re In” for: Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (Pilgrim) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Miss Grillo)

Why they’re important: These two turf races for juveniles have been extraordinarily influential on the World Championships over the past 15 or so years. Three males have won both the Pilgrim and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in the same calendar year – Oscar Performance (2016), Structor (2019), and Fire At Will (2020). Fillies exiting the Miss Grillo have done even better, with four dual winners: Maram (2008), Lady Eli (2014), New Money Honey (2016), and Newspaperofrecord (2018). All four of those fillies were trained by Chad Brown, and Maram provided Brown with the first of what is currently 16 Breeders’ Cup wins.

Best winners during the Breeders’ Cup era: Oscar Performance has the edge among Pilgrim winners as he trained on to win five more graded stakes in his career for trainer Brian Lynch, including three Grade 1 races. And on the distaff side, it’s clearly Lady Eli. That fan favorite won six races in a row to start her career (the Miss Grillo and Juvenile Fillies Turf were numbers two and three) but then was sidelined for over a year and nearly lost her life when developing laminitis. Amazingly, Lady Eli returned in summer 2016 and won four more stakes races into fall 2017, including three Grade 1s, while also finishing second by a nose to Queen’s Trust in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Last year’s results: Pilgrim winner Major Dude finished a nonthreatening ninth of 14 in the BC Juvenile Turf, while Miss Grillo winner Pleasant Passage was much more competitive, finishing second behind Coolmore shipper Meditate in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Other Breeders’ Cup preps in Europe:

On the Oct. 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard at Longchamp, four other Challenge Series races will be run: the Prix de l’Opera Longines, a prep for the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf; the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines, a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint; the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, a prep for the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf; and the Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac, a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Tarnawa (Eclipse Sportswire)

Of these four races, the Prix de l’Opera has had the most influence on Breeders’ Cup results. 2020 winner Tarnawa shipped to Keeneland but ran against males in the Longines Turf instead of in the Filly and Mare Turf and defeated them by a length. On the same card that day, Prix de l’Opera third-place finisher Audarya posted an upset win in the Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf. Last year’s Filly and Mare Turf was also won by a filly exiting the Prix de l’Opera, as sixth-place finisher Tuesday scored impressively at Keeneland for Coolmore partners and Aidan O’Brien.

Among the three other Group 1 stakes, horses of note include Karakontie, who won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2013 and a year later scored an upset in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita, and Found and Wuheida, who won the Prix Marcel Boussac in 2014 and 2016, respectively, and then like Karakontie took Breeders’ Cup races the next year at age 3, in this case the 2015 Longines Turf for Found and the 2017 Filly and Mare Turf for Wuheida. Earlier in this century, Six Perfections won the Marcel Boussac in 2002 and the BC Mile in 2003.

The Prix de l’Abbaye was won by Glass Slippers in 2019, who a year later was also part of a dominant 2020 Breeders’ Cup Saturday for Europeans along with Tarnawa and Audarya. The filly shipped to Kentucky off of a runner-up finish in the Prix de l’Abbaye and won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint by a half-length.

Two additional “Win and You’re In” races will be run in Europe in the coming days, both at Newmarket Racecourse in London. The Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes Sept. 30 offers a Challenge Series berth to the Prevagen Juvenile Turf, while the Sept. 29 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Rockfel Stakes is a qualifier for the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Neither race has produced a winner that subsequently shipped to North America and won their respective Breeders’ Cup race.

Important races this weekend:

Gun Runner (Eclipse Sportswire)

In addition to the official “Win and You’re In” preps on the calendar, a handful of other graded stakes slated for this weekend have had a major impact on results in the Breeders’ Cup. Chief among them is Sunday's historic Woodward Stakes, which was held at Saratoga for most of this century before moving to Belmont Park in 2021 and then temporarily to Aqueduct as part of the Belmont at the Big A meet last year. Five horses have won the 1 1/8-mile Woodward and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the same year: Alysheba in 1988, Cigar in 1995, Ghostzapper in 2004, Saint Liam in 2005 and Gun Runner in 2017. Not coincidentally, each of them was voted Horse of the Year – and in addition, two other greats won the Woodward and BC Classic in different years, Skip Away and Curlin. Those illustrious names are a brief indication of how significant this race has been in determining year-end honors in Thoroughbred racing.

On the same level, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes, also Sunday at Belmont at the Big A, has been arguably the most important domestic prep race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf since the World Championships launched in 1984. Six, count ’em, six horses have won both races in the same year, starting with Manila in 1986 and followed by Theatrical in 1987, Tikkanen in 1994, Illinois-bred Buck’s Boy in 1998, English Channel in 2007, and Main Sequence in 2014. The mare War Like Goddess won last year’s Joe Hirsch and subsequently ran third behind European invader Rebel’s Romance in the Longines Turf at Keeneland. Both War Like Goddess and Rebel’s Romance will contest Sunday’s Joe Hirsch, the latter doing so as he comes back from a last-place finish in a Grade 2 stakes at Saratoga when he clipped heels and tossed jockey Richard Mullen.

Two graded stakes this weekend at Santa Anita – the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes and the Zenyatta Stakes – were removed from the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series in 2022. Still, they have a long intertwined history with the championship event. Five horses have pulled off the Santa Anita Sprint-BC Sprint double: Cardmania (1993), Elmhurst (1997), Kona Gold (2000), Amazombie (2011), and back-to-back winner Roy H (2017 and 2018). Dr. Schivel nearly became the sixth in 2021, winning the Santa Anita Sprint but losing the Qatar Racing Sprint by a nose to Aloha West.

The Zenyatta Stakes was named the Lady’s Secret Stakes until 2012, when it was changed to honor a three-time-winner from 2008-’10 who also won the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (Distaff) in 2008, the BC Classic in 2009, and was runner-up in the Classic in 2010. That mare, of course, is Hall of Famer Zenyatta, and she’s one of four fillies or mares to win both the Lady’s Secret and Distaff in the former race’s history. The others are Hollywood Wildcat in this race’s inaugural year of 1993, followed by Hall of Famer Azeri in 2002, and newly inducted Hall of Famer Beholder in 2013. Like Zenyatta, Beholder won three consecutive editions of this race from 2013-’15. She finished second to Stellar Wind in her fourth start in the Zenyatta during fall 2016 before winning a second Distaff weeks later over Songbird in one of the most exciting finishes of this century.

Among the remaining graded stakes on tap for this weekend, Kotashaan and Northern Spur won Santa Anita’s John Henry Turf Championship Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same year, back in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Kotashaan was named the Horse of the Year for his 1993 campaign. The Eddie D Stakes, a grass sprint at Santa Anita, was won three times in four years by California Flag (2008, 2009, 2011). California Flag won the ’09 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint as well, and Stormy Liberal became the second horse to pull off the Eddie D-BC Sprint double in 2018, taking the latter race for the second consecutive year.

The City of Hope Mile Stakes at Santa Anita has lost most of its luster in recent years as a Breeders’ Cup prep but was a major steppingstone 20-25 years ago. Turf stars Silic, War Chant, and Val Royal won both races in 1999, 2000, and 2001 when the race was called the Oak Tree Breeders’ Cup Mile Stakes. More recently, Obviously won the City of Hope Mile in 2012 and then the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint a year later. A relatively new race at Santa Anita, the Chillingworth Stakes for female sprinters, was won by Ce Ce in 2021 one start prior to her upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar. Ce Ce also won last year’s Chillingworth before running fourth in the Filly and Mare Sprint.

Finally, the Lukas Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs, named after the legendary trainer known as “The Coach,” was the final prep for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2021 for Knicks Go, who had already won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes and Whitney Stakes earlier in the year for trainer Brad Cox. Knicks Go won the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic by an easy four lengths and then pulled off a near-repeat effort against tougher competition in the Longines Classic at Del Mar, romping by 2 ¾ lengths. He was an easy choice as Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male among Eclipse Award voters.