The day racing fans and horseplayers wait for all year for is almost here. The Breeders’ Cup Saturday program will feature the international equine and human stars of horse racing squaring off in nine championship races on Oct. 31 at Keeneland Race Course. The event will be headlined by the richest horse race in North America, the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup card will be televised on USA Network and Peacock from 1-3:30 p.m. ET before moving to NBC and Peacock from 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET, culminating with the Classic at 6:16 p.m. ET. FanDuel TV will present live, continuous coverage of every Championship and undercard race through the “Breeders' Cup Players' Show,” available on FanDuel TV, BreedersCup.com, the official Breeders' Cup mobile app, Breeders' Cup YouTube, Facebook, and X social channels, major advance-deposit wagering platforms, and simulcast outlets worldwide. New this year, the Players’ Show will also be available on Peacock.

Here are some of the details you need to know about Saturday’s nine Breeders’ Cup championship races.

Ways and Means (Eclipse Sportswire)

Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint

Distance: Seven furlongs on dirt

Post time: 1:10 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 4

Background: The Filly & Mare Sprint debuted in 2007 when the Breeders’ Cup expanded past eight races. In 19 prior runnings, no horse has ever won the race wire-to-wire. This seemingly unusual off-the-pace bias was on full display last year when late runners Splendora and Vahva finished 1-2. Two years ago, Soul of an Angel used a last-to-first rally to score the upset.

Favorites: Ways And Means has been on a roll, but her best efforts have mostly come at Saratoga, and she’s been a little less effective elsewhere. Can she uncork her best effort at Keeneland? If not, Explora is a good option based on her better efforts like her Grade 1 seven-furlong win in the Test Stakes Presented by Ticketmaster at Saratoga. Evanescence steps up at this lofty level but is a Keeneland horse for the course with a 3-for-3 record at the track including a prep race win last time in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. Last year’s winner Splendora has won five of six starts this year but is cross-entered with first preference in the Longines Distaff.

Interesting storylines: Trainers Chad Brown and Bob Baffert have enjoyed recent success in this race with Filly & Mare Sprint winners four of the last six years (Brown with Goodnight Olive 2022-23, Baffert with Gamine in 2020 and Splendora in 2025). It’s not surprising that Brown and Baffert send out many of this year’s top contenders. Brown trains likely favorite Ways and Means while Baffert sends out Explora and Nooni.

Cy Fair (Eclipse Sportswire)

Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint

Distance: 5 ½ furlongs on turf

Post time: 1:48 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 5, all-turf pick 4

Background: This race was first held in 2008, and the first nine runnings were mostly contested at 6 ½ furlongs until the race morphed into a five- or 5 ½-furlong dash the last nine years. At Keeneland, it is run at the distance of 5 ½ furlongs. Southern California-based trainers once ruled this race, but no SoCal stable has won it since Peter Miller’s Belvoir Bay in 2019. Last year’s winner was the filly Shisospicy. European invader Starlust won in 2024. Both are pre-entered this year.

Favorites: Bacio began his season with a turf sprint win at Churchill Downs and has since raced in England with a win at Royal Ascot and a Group 1 win last time at York bringing his career record to five wins in six outings for turf sprint master trainer Wesley Ward. Another turf sprint ace trainer, George Weaver, has a chance with Cy Fair who owns graded stakes wins over females at Churchill Downs and Saratoga this year. World traveler Comanche Brave will make his first North American start coming off two straight Group 1 wins in England and Ireland.

Interesting storylines: Defending Turf Sprint champ Shisospicy will return from a six-month layoff and will go for a repeat without a prep race under her belt. Last year’s Juvenile Turf Sprint champ Cy Fair is another filly in this race with a chance. More female contenders in the field include Euro invader Miss Yechance, and Roja, who comes in on a four-race winning streak.

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Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile

Distance: One mile on dirt

Post time: 2:26 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, daily double, pick 3, pick 4, all-dirt Pick 4

Background: This race was first held at the 2007 Breeders’ Cup, but the Dirt Mile didn’t really start to gain in stature until the 2020s. It has grown into one of the headline events of the Breeders’ Cup program with the help of recent marquee winners like Knicks Go in 2020, Life Is Good in 2021, fan favorite Cody’s Wish in 2022 and 2023, and last year’s winner Nysos. At Keeneland, the Dirt Mile is run around two turns.

Favorites: So many of the horses in this race are cross-entered with a preference in either the Classic or the Sprint, so it is very difficult to try to project the actual field for the 2026 Dirt Mile in advance. The 2024 Dirt Mile champ Full Serrano is back in the race, but he has struggled to regain his winning form in the two years since then. Chunk of Gold has had a good season, but he finishes second more than twice as often as he wins. Perhaps the two Japanese wild cards in the field, Lord Fons and T O Password, will emerge as the horses to beat.

Interesting storylines: The 2026 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile is beginning to look like a consolation prize that nobody wants this year as all of the top contenders entered in the race are cross-entered with their first preferences elsewhere (Knightsbridge, Further Ado, and Napoleon Solo have first preference in the Classic while Built, Hymn, Iron Man Cal, and T Kraft all may run in the Cygames Sprint). Any from that group should be the horse to beat if they opt to run in this race.

Blue Bolt (Eclipse Sportswire)

Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Distance: 1 3/16 miles on turf

Post time: 3:04 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, daily double, pick 3, pick 4, pick 6, $3 all-turf pick 3

Background: First held in 1999, the Filly & Mare Turf marked the Breeders’ Cup’s first expansion from its original seven-race program. Since trainer Chad Brown’s run of four winners of this race in the 2010s, the Filly and Mare Turf has been dominated by foreign-based horses, which have won eight of the last 10 editions (nine of 10 if you count Canadian-based 2024 winner Moira as a foreigner). At Keeneland, the race is run at its absolute minimum distance of 1 3/16 miles.

Favorites: Aidan O’Brien trainee Diamond Necklace could be favored here but her connections seem to be leaning toward running her in the Longines Turf instead. That would leave sensational 4-year-old filly Blue Bolt as the potential favorite and horse to beat if she runs in this race instead of the Mile. Blue Bolt has amassed a perfect 6-for-6 record so far in 2026 including four Group 1 wins in a row at a mile in England, Ireland, and France. Otherwise, O’Brien’s second-stringer, 3-year-old filly Precise also looms as a legitimate contender. She won two Group 1s earlier this season and has been competitive in some of Europe’s highest-profile middle distance races. One of the top American contenders in the race is Gimme a Nother, a winner of four graded stakes in a row dating back to last year including wins in the Grade 2 Beverly D. Stakes and Woodbine’s Grade 1 E. P. Taylor Stakes in her most recent races.

Interesting storylines: Chad Brown is the most prominent trainer in the domestic female turf division and has won this race a record four times (but not since 2018 with Sistercharlie). Brown will attempt to break his dry spell with his lone entrant in this year’s field, Kathynmarissa, who along with Gimme a Nother has been this season’s leader in the North American filly and mare turf division with three wins including Saratoga’s Grade 1  Dunkin’ Diana Stakes and in Belmont Park’s Grade 2 Flower Bowl Stakes.

Englishman (Eclipse Sportswire)

Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint

Distance: Six furlongs on dirt

Post time: 3:42 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, daily double, pick 3, pick 5

Background: The Sprint is an “original seven” Breeders Cup race that always has been held at its current six-furlong distance. The three prior editions of the Sprint run at Keeneland were all good ones won by Runhappy in 2015, Whitmore in 2020, and Elite Power in 2022.

Favorites: Blazing 3-year-old sprint sensation Englishman will be one of the weekend’s biggest favorites based on two impressive wins in a row at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun and the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes where he earned eye-popping Beyer Speed Figures of 115 and 117. His top competition may be Japanese invader T O Elvis, who domestic racing fans might remember as the horse who dazzled on the Kentucky Derby undercard when winning the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford in a runaway with a 108 Beyer figure. The Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Presented by Estrella Jalisco has become something of a key prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint lately, and this year’s winner, Listenupshance comes into this race off two straight scores also including the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar.

Interesting storylines: The results from the host track’s course and distance prep race for the Sprint, the venerable Grade 2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes, could take on added importance in a year when the Breeders’ Cup is held at Keeneland. This time all of the top three finishers from the Phoenix, Nakatomi, Little Thunder, and Mad House, are all pre-entered in the sprint, with the latter pair being the first two on the also-eligible list. Nakatomi will be running in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint for the fourth consecutive year. One of his career highlights was his third-place finish in the 2023 Sprint at Santa Anita Park.

Notable Speech (Eclipse Sportswire)

FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF

Distance: One mile on turf

Post time: 4:20 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, daily double, pick 3,

pick 4

Background: As one of the original seven Breeders’ Cup events and with a $2 million purse, the Mile is guaranteed to draw an international all-star field. Throughout its history, North American horses have held their own and won the Mile 22 times, including most recently in 2024 with More Than Looks trained by Cherie DeVaux. European connections have had the edge recently, however, with six of the last eight winners since 2018. In particular, it has been trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin that have become the dominating forces in this race with wins four of the last five years including last year’s winner Notable Speech joining the barn’s other recent winners Master of the Seas in 2023, Modern Games in 2022, and Space Blues in 2021.

Favorites Notable Speech is tough and legit and has a terrific shot at a repeat victory coming off his prep race win in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile for connections that seemingly win this race nearly every year. The main threat, and it’s a big one, should come from the filly Blue Bolt who can make a race of it if she runs here instead of the Filly & Mare Turf. She has run up a perfect 6-for-6 record this year including four straight Group 1 wins. There are some serious American contenders this year, too. Rhetorical likes Keeneland and exits his second consecutive win in the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at this course and distance. Deterministic will need to turn the tables on Notable Speech, who beat him in the Woodbine Mile, but certainly can’t be ruled out based on his back-to-back Grade 1 wins at Saratoga in the Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes and the Fourstardave Stakes.

Interesting storylines: The saying goes that few things are guaranteed other than death and taxes, and that’s especially when it comes to horse racing and gambling. One thing you can almost always count on, however, is that the front-runner or any horse involved in the early pace almost never wins the Breeders’ Cup Mile. With the exception of Hall-of-Famer Lure in 1992-93, no other pacesetter has ever won the Mile down through its long history (pace pressing Tepin came the closest in 2015 and Kip Deville in 2007 and Goldikova in 2008 raced closer to the pace than most winners). Almost every Mile winner has been a stalker or closer. Last year’s 1-2 finishers Notable Speech and Formidable Man closed from behind to complete the exacta and 2024 winner More Than Looks rallied from dead last. In the last 17 runnings of the Mile since 2009, no winner except Tepin raced within three lengths of the early lead.

Nitrogen (Eclipse Sportswire)

Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff

Distance: 1 1/8 miles on the dirt

Post time: 4:58 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, $3 late pick 3, Distaff-Classic daily double

Background: The Distaff is one of the original Breeders’ Cup races run every year since 1984, but for a brief time it was referred to as the Ladies Classic and was even run on Friday late in the decade of the 2000s. This race has been won by some of the greatest fillies and mares in recent history including champions like Monomoy Girl, Beholder, Zenyatta, Ashado, Paseana, Bayakoa, Personal Ensign, Lady’s Secret, and many more. The 2024 winner, Thorpedo Anna, went on to be named Horse of the Year.

Favorites: This race will be headlined by three main contenders led by last year’s champion 3-year-old filly and 2025 Distaff runner-up Nitrogen, who had a strong second-half of her 4-year-old season this year with big wins in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes Presented by Ford and the Grade 2 Beldame Stakes as well as a second-place finish against the boys in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes. The top competition will come from the Chad Brown-trained Fully Subscribed and the Bob Baffert-trained Splendora and both deserve serious consideration. Fully Subscribed has been on a serious roll this season with three straight wins coming in the Grade 2 Shuvee Stakes, Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes, and in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes. Splendora won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and has stretched out this year to win the Grade 1 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile Presented by FanDuel and three more Grade 2 stakes on her current winning streak.

Interesting storylines: For all of their various illustrious and prolific career accomplishments, all three of the trainers of this year’s three top contenders – Mark Casse with Nitrogen, Brown with Fully Subscribed, and Baffert with Splendora – have yet to ever win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Will one of them score a breakthrough this year? Or will this race result in a monumental upset?

Diamond Necklace (Eclipse Sportswire)

Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf

Distance: 1 ½ miles on turf

Post time: 5:36 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, daily double

Background: The $5 million grass feature of the Breeders’ Cup card always attracts an international field of turf distance pros. As has become the norm, more than half of the field in 2026 hails from overseas. Only three American-based horses have won the Turf since 2007: Little Mike in 2012, Main Sequence in 2014, and Bricks and Mortar in 2019. Trainer Aidan O’Brien ended a six-year drought in this race when he won with Auguste Rodin in 2023, giving him seven career wins in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He also has placed six times and showed five times. Other European trainers to win this race over the past decade have been Andre Fabre, John Gosden, Charlie Appleby (three times), and last year’s winner Willie Mullins with Ethical Diamond.

Favorites: Could we see an “all-Diamond” exacta in the 2026 Breeders’ Cup Turf with Ethical Diamond looking for a repeat against O’Brien’s likely favorite Diamond Necklace? Diamond Necklace won three straight Group 1 stakes this season and proved herself worthy against both males and older horses when finishing third by 1 ½ lengths in the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in a 16-horse field featuring of many of Europe’s best. The top American hopefuls will be Burnham Square, a four-time stakes winner in 2026, and Minaret Station, who finally appeared to live up to his big potential last time with a win in Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes.

Interesting storylines: O’Brien will be attempting to become the first trainer ever to win a single Breeders’ Cup race eight times, and he will be favored to do so with the 3-year-old filly Diamond Necklace. O’Brien, however, will need to buck some history this year as the Turf has only been won by a 3-year-old filly once in its long history and that was more than a decade ago in 2015 with Found – also trained by O’Brien. Even if Diamond Necklace can’t get the job done, O’Brien will still have another chance this year with one of the other favorites in the field, Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini.

Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic

Forever Young (Eclipse Sportswire)

Distance: 1 1/4 miles on the dirt

Post time: 6:16 p.m. ET

Wagering menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5

Background: The Classic is the showcase race of Breeders’ Cup Day and serves as the season-ending championship race in North American racing. With a purse of $7 million, the Classic has the highest purse of any American race and ranks one of the world’s richest and most important horse races. The world’s best dirt horses compete at the classic distance of 1 ¼ miles in a race that impacts the Eclipse Awards in the older male, 3-year-old, and Horse of the Year divisions. A who’s who of equine greats from the past 40 years have won this race including Flightline (2022), Gun Runner (2017), American Pharoah (2015), Zenyatta (2009), Curlin (2007), Tiznow (2000-01), Cigar (1995), and Sunday Silence (1989) just to name a few.

Favorites: Defending champion Forever Young will be back for a repeat bid, and the Japanese star has done nothing to tarnish his reputation since winning this race last fall during a three-race 2026 campaign so far that has included a win in the $20 million Saudi Cup, a second in the $12 million Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline, and a prep race win in a four-horse field in Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. His path to a repeat won’t be an easy one, however, as he will face Magnitude, the horse that beat him in Dubai who then went on to win Churchill Downs’ Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes over reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty. Speaking of Sovereignty, he also enters this race off a three-race 2026 campaign where he saved his best for his last with a blowout win in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes where he earned a 112 Beyer figure. Add in 2026 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve and Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets winner Golden Tempo, Pacific Classic winner Knightsbridge, and Keeneland horse-for-the-course Further Ado, and you have a Classic field where the list of legitimate contenders is long and deep.

Interesting storylines: Forever Young will attempt to become only the second repeat winner in the history of the Classic, joining Tiznow as the only horse to do so. The 2025 Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty missed the 2025 Classic, but racing fans are hoping to finally see the Forever Young vs. Sovereignty match-up that everyone has been waiting for. Plus, racing fans also will be treated to an increasingly rare head-to-head match-up between the last two Derby winners, Sovereignty and Golden Tempo.