Hi there,
Today. Keeneland opens the gates on the Breeders’ Cup at 11:55am ET, five juvenile championships this afternoon, nine more tomorrow, and the $7 million Classic last of all at 6:16pm ET on Halloween. The draw was Monday and the Classic is eight horses deep: Forever Young at 2/1, Sovereignty at 5/2, Knightsbridge at 9/2, Golden Tempo at 5/1, Magnitude at 6/1. That’s the defending champion, last year’s Horse of the Year, this year’s Derby winner and the horse who beat Forever Young in Dubai. WHAT A RACE, I cannot wait!
Some housekeeping. The World Series ended on Wednesday, Brewers in five, so there’s no Game 7 fighting the Classic for the TV tomorrow night. My living room can go back to looking like a living room. The clocks go back early Sunday, which means the Tenno Sho in Tokyo runs at about 1:40am ET Saturday night and you get the extra hour to sleep it off. The Jets play the Raiders on Sunday. I have said nothing about the Dolphins game and I will continue to say nothing about the Dolphins game.
Let’s go.
→ 🏇 RACING WEEK
🗓️ Today (Fri) · 🇺🇸 Keeneland · 🏆 Breeders’ Cup Future Stars Friday, five G1s, $7M · first post 11:55am ET, BC races 2:55pm ET to 5:35pm ET · Gulfstream Park · Cellars Shiraz + Our Dear Peggy · Belmont Park · Athenia (Listed, $175K) · from 11:40am ET · 🇦🇺 Flemington · Victoria Derby Day, nine races, A$8M (about US$5.6M) · from 9:20pm ET
🗓️ Tomorrow (Sat) · 🇺🇸 Keeneland · 🏆 Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday, nine G1s, $23M · first post 11:15am ET, Classic 6:16pm ET · Belmont Park · Knickerbocker + Key Cents · from 11:05am ET · Santa Anita · Golden State Juvenile + Golden State Juvenile Fillies, Goldikova (G3) · Zia Park · fall meet opens
🗓️ Sunday · 🇺🇸 Belmont Park · five stakes, $925K, Bold Ruler (G3) + Forty Niner (G3) · from 11:30am ET · Woodbine · Grey (G3) + Mazarine (G3) · Santa Anita · Twilight Derby (G2) · 🇯🇵 Tokyo · Tenno Sho (Autumn), about 1:40am ET (Sat night)
🗓️ Monday · 🇦🇺 Flemington · 🏆 Melbourne Cup, A$10.2M (about US$7.2M) · late Monday night ET
🗓️ Football 🏈 · Sun: NFL Week 8, Jets v Raiders 1pm ET · Sun night: Eagles @ Commanders 8:20pm ET · Mon: Bears @ Seahawks 8:15pm ET · Thu Nov 5: Jaguars @ Ravens 8:15pm ET
→ 🏆 TODAY + TOMORROW, KEENELAND THE BREEDERS’ CUP: FOURTEEN CHAMPIONSHIPS, $30 MILLION, TWO DAYS
Fourteen Grade 1s in two afternoons, and the fields that came out of Monday’s draw are as good as the hype. Here’s how the two days break down, and where we think the money goes.
Our stats member of the team, ‘Statto’ (we think he may be Greek), has pointed to the turf, not the dirt, advising that in three previous Breeders’ Cups at Keeneland, Europe won two of the six turf races in 2015, four of the seven in 2020 and six of the seven in 2022. 6 from 7, I like those stats. Bottom line, European runners on the grass to fly high… there’s a pun there somewhere!
Future Stars Friday (today, 2:55pm ET to 5:35pm ET). Five championships for two-year-olds. These are next year’s Derby and Oaks conversations, and some of them are already the best in the world at what they do.
Sun Goddess is our strongest call of the day in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at 4:15pm ET. Aidan O’Brien’s filly has won five straight, the last three of them Group 1s: the Phoenix, the Moyglare and the Cheveley Park. The one question is two turns, which she’s never tried. Her genius trainer said this week, “She gallops more like a cheetah than a racehorse.” I will be taking that to my landlord. Chad Brown’s Domestic Agenda (8/1), unbeaten in two and a 4 1/2-length winner of the Miss Grillo, is the American filly to use underneath.
In the Juvenile at 4:55pm ET, Bob Baffert’s Hughes is 4-4, two of them Grade 1s, and won the American Pharoah by six lengths. He’s done nothing wrong, and he’ll be short. The exacta is the play: Hughes over Todd Pletcher’s American History (9/2) and over Coach Pope (4/1). American History came from last to beat Coach Pope in the Breeders’ Futurity, over this track and this trip.
The others. Libertango in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at 2:55pm ET. She beat Sun Goddess in the Albany at Royal Ascot and ran her to a length in the Cheveley Park. Emphatic in the Juvenile Fillies at 3:35pm ET, three for three at three different tracks, and she held off Summer Starlet by 1 1/4 lengths in the Alcibiades over this track and trip. Folsom Blues (7/2) in the Juvenile Turf at 5:35pm ET, a six-length winner of Ireland’s National Stakes, against a 3/1 favorite in How’s Al Today.
Championship Saturday (tomorrow, 1:10pm ET to 6:16pm ET). Nine Grade 1s back to back, roughly every 38 minutes. Our three strongest opinions on the card are Englishman in the Sprint, Blue Bolt in the Filly & Mare Turf and Forever Young in the Classic.
Englishman in the Sprint at 3:42pm ET is the shortest price of the weekend, and he drew the outside, post 13 of 13. Cherie DeVaux’s three-year-old is a dual Grade 1 winner at Saratoga. He equaled the track record in the Woody Stephens, then won the H. Allen Jerkens by 3 3/4 lengths with a career-best 117 Beyer. Tomorrow is his first try against older horses. He’s already signed to stand at Lane’s End when he retires, but the plan is to keep racing next year.
Blue Bolt in the Filly & Mare Turf at 3:04pm ET is unbeaten in six this year with four straight Group 1s, and there are two questions. She’s never run 1 3/16 miles, and she drew post 12 of 14. We think the class carries her. In the Dirt Mile at 2:26pm ET, Further Ado is the favorite for Brad Cox and Flavien Prat, and he’s the horse The Puma beat by a half length in the Pennsylvania Derby. Notable Speech goes for back to back Miles at 4:20pm ET, with Rhetorical in the exotics. He was the New York-bred Horse of the Year for 2025, and he has won Keeneland’s Coolmore Turf Mile two years running over this exact course and distance. Nitrogen (6/5) in the Distaff at 4:58pm ET is last year’s champion three-year-old filly. She won the Ogden Phipps by 12 3/4 lengths and ran second to Sovereignty against the boys in the Whitney. In the $5 million Turf at 5:36pm ET, Diamond Necklace (post 12) is the favorite and the pick off a third in the Arc against older horses and males. Tiffany, the Kentucky Turf Cup winner, is the value.
The full card, with post times: 1:10pm ET · Filly & Mare Sprint · 1:48pm ET · Turf Sprint · 2:26pm ET · Dirt Mile · 3:04pm ET · Filly & Mare Turf · 3:42pm ET · Sprint · 4:20pm ET · Mile · 4:58pm ET · Distaff · 5:36pm ET · Turf · 6:16pm ET · Classic
On TV. Today it’s USA Network from 1pm ET to 6pm ET. Tomorrow USA Network has 1pm ET to 3:30pm ET, then NBC takes over from 3:30pm ET to 6:30pm ET, so the Sprint through the Classic are on NBC. Peacock and FanDuel TV carry both days, and as always, so does your very own MyWinners app.
At the venues. All nine MyWinners venues open at 11am ET today and 10:30am ET tomorrow. Saturday’s full card is open for advance betting at the counter from this morning, along with the cross-day doubles: Juvenile to Classic, Juvenile Fillies to Distaff and Juvenile Turf to Turf. Ask the teller for the printed entries. They’re on the counter both days. If you’re visiting one of our Connecticut locations today to bet Saturday’s card, make sure your ticket is for Saturday’s racing, not today’s. Mistakes are easy to make and difficult to fix after the race.
The big pools. Today’s Pick 6 runs Races 5 to 10. Tomorrow’s Pick 6 runs from the Filly & Mare Turf through the Classic, and the Late Pick 5 from the Sprint through the Classic. Both have a mandatory payout tomorrow, and so does the last Super High 5 of the day. Any Pick 5 money nobody hits today rolls into tomorrow’s Late Pick 5. The full menu runs to 10 Pick 4s, seven Pick 5s, two Pick 6s and four special daily doubles.
Rob’s guides have every field, every post and every pick: Future Stars Friday, Championship Saturday, and full previews for the Classic, Turf, Distaff and Juvenile. Links below.
→ 🏆 TOMORROW, 6:16PM ET THE CLASSIC: CAN FOREVER YOUNG DO WHAT ONLY TIZNOW HAS DONE?
One horse has won the Breeders’ Cup Classic twice. Tiznow, 2000 and 2001. Tomorrow at 6:16pm ET, from post 5, Forever Young tries to be the second.
- Forever Young (2/1, post 5, Ryusei Sakai). Sixteen starts, twelve wins, never worse than third, and more than $32 million in the bank. He won the Saudi Cup for the second year running in February and the Jockey Club Gold Cup by 3 1/4 lengths last time out. He sits just off the pace, so it doesn’t matter much how fast they go early. He’s our pick.
- Sovereignty (5/2, post 2, Junior Alvarado). Last year’s Horse of the Year, winner of the 2025 Derby, Belmont and Travers. He won the Whitney by 4 3/4 lengths on August 8, then a foot abscess cost him the Gold Cup. Twelve weeks off into this field is a big ask. Use him underneath.
- Magnitude (6/1, post 6, Flavien Prat). The one who beat Forever Young, wire to wire in the Dubai World Cup. He went wire to wire in the Stephen Foster too, with Sovereignty third. Napoleon Solo (15/1) wants the same early lead, and that pace fight is the most important thing in the race.
- Golden Tempo (5/1, post 3, Jose Ortiz). Cherie DeVaux’s 2026 Derby and Belmont winner comes from off the pace. If Magnitude and Napoleon Solo burn each other out up front, he’s the one picking up the pieces. He’s the trifecta horse at a price.
Bill Mott runs two, Sovereignty and Knightsbridge (9/2), who won the Pacific Classic by 6 1/4 lengths. The Puma (10/1) beat Further Ado by a half length in the Pennsylvania Derby. T O Password (30/1) is Japan’s other runner.
The tickets: Forever Young to win. A $1 exacta box of Forever Young, Sovereignty and Magnitude, $6. A $1 trifecta with Forever Young on top, Sovereignty or Magnitude second, and Sovereignty, Magnitude or Golden Tempo third, $4.
One horse, one bet, win only.
The bet: Explora to win the Filly & Mare Sprint, tomorrow, 1:10pm ET, the first Breeders’ Cup race of Saturday. Seven furlongs on the dirt. Ways and Means is the 7/5 favorite, and she won the Ballerina, but her best races have come at Saratoga and this isn’t Saratoga. Explora won the Test at Saratoga in August, a Grade 1 at exactly this trip, and she’s 4/1 with Jose Ortiz. Splendora, who won this race last year, is running in the Distaff instead, which takes the defending champion out of her way. At 3/1 or better, that’s the bet. Under 3/1, the market has found her, so keep your money for the Classic. Our strongest Friday call is Sun Goddess, but you won’t get a price, so I’m telling you about her and betting the other one. Pray to the betting Gods.
→ 🎟️ VIC’S PICKS: NFL WEEK 8
No video this week as Vic’s makeup artist is taking a well-earned Halloween break in the Bermuda Triangle. So, it’s back to the old-fashioned column. Let’s just hope his predictions are better in black and white!
We loved our Giants pick last week and we’re using that momentum to find some value this week:
Bills -3.5 vs. Ravens: Buffalo looks to be the best team in the league now that San Francisco has lost and no one really understands how the Vikings are undefeated. Expect the Bills coming off a bye to handle the Ravens with ease at home.
Broncos +1.5 vs. Chiefs: The Chiefs are coming off a brutal performance against Seattle and it doesn’t get much easier heading to Denver for a matchup against the frisky Broncos. We’ll take the points here but you could also shoot your shot with the moneyline bet on Denver in this one.
Bears +3.5 @ Seahawks: Yes, I just said Seattle had a great win against KC last week, but I love this Bears team and I think Caleb & co keep it close this week, coming down to a last minute score. Happy to have the hook here on the road.
→ FRI NIGHT TO MON NIGHT, OVERNIGHT THE INTERNATIONAL DESK: DERBY DAY, THE TENNO SHO, AND THE RACE THAT STOPS A NATION.
🇦🇺 Victoria Derby Day, tonight. The Melbourne Cup Carnival opens at Flemington from 9:20pm ET tonight: nine races, A$8 million (about US$5.6 million), three Group 1s. The Coolmore Stud Stakes for sprinters goes at 12:40am ET, the A$3 million (about US$2.1 million) Victoria Derby for three-year-olds at 1:20am ET, and the Empire Rose at 2am ET. Bet it before bed.
🇯🇵 The Tenno Sho (Autumn), Saturday night. Tokyo, about a mile and a quarter on the turf, around 1:40am ET Sunday. Croix du Nord won the Osaka Hai and the spring Tenno Sho this year and is Rob’s pick. Masquerade Ball won it last year. The clocks go back that same night, so you’ll technically get to watch it with an hour to spare.
🇦🇺 The Melbourne Cup, Monday. A$10.2 million (about US$7.2 million), with A$4.5 million to the winner, two miles, up to 24 runners, late Monday night ET. The final field and the barriers are drawn tomorrow. Point Of Law won the Geelong Cup and picked up a 2kg penalty for it, from 51kg to 53kg, and he’s Rob’s pick. Joseph O’Brien’s Defiantly, who won the Group 2 Prix Kergorlay at Deauville, is the main danger. Defending champion Half Yours won’t be there. He’s been sent for a spell. Wednesday night it’s Crown Oaks Day.
→ 🏇 MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND
🏇 Gulfstream Park · today. Two stakes for young fillies on one card: the Cellars Shiraz for three-year-olds and the Our Dear Peggy for two-year-olds. 🏇 Belmont Park · all weekend. The Athenia today, first post 11:40am ET. Tomorrow is Halloween racing from 11:05am ET: the Knickerbocker is Race 9, where Chad Brown’s three-time Grade 1 winner Program Trading drew the rail and is Rob’s pick, and the Key Cents for New York-bred juvenile fillies is Race 10. Sunday is five stakes worth $925,000 from 11:30am ET, with the Bold Ruler (G3) and the Forty Niner (G3) up top. Rob’s Sunday guide has the fields. 🏇 Santa Anita · tomorrow. Golden State Day for California-breds: the Golden State Juvenile and the Golden State Juvenile Fillies, $175,000 each, with the Goldikova (G3) on the same card. Sunday it’s the Twilight Derby (G2). 🏇 Zia Park · tomorrow. The fall meet opens in Hobbs, New Mexico. New season, with stakes to come in November and December. 🏇 Woodbine · Sunday. The Grey (G3) and the Mazarine (G3) for two-year-olds. 🐕 Wheeling Downs + Tri-State + Australia · every day. The Australian dogs run while you sleep, and they come with cashback.
→ 🏈 FOOTBALL THIS WEEK NFL WEEK 8: THIRTEEN GAMES TO GO, A LOS ANGELES DERBY, AND THE JETS AT HOME AGAIN.
Four teams are on a bye this week: the Giants, Saints, Texans and 49ers. Week 8 opened last night with Panthers @ Packers on Prime Video. Thirteen games follow on Sunday and Monday, then a Thursday nighter starts Week 9. These are the ones worth your money. Lines below are this week’s early numbers, so check the live price at the Fanatics Sportsbook counter before you bet.
Raiders @ Jets · Sun 1pm ET · FOX. The Jets are a short favorite, around -1.5 with a total of 45.5. Kirk Cousins brings a Raiders offense putting up more than 26 points a game. The Jets are scoring under 20. I’m not betting it. I’m going to MetLife emotionally, and that’s a separate expense.
Ravens @ Bills · Sun 1pm ET · CBS. The game of the early window. Buffalo around -3, and a total of 54.5, joint highest on the board.
Chargers @ Rams · Sun 4:05pm ET · FOX. The LA derby at SoFi, with the Rams around -6.5.
Patriots @ Dolphins · Sun 4:25pm ET · CBS. New England is around a touchdown favorite in Miami. My colleague Gio has asked me to mention this. I have mentioned it.
Chiefs @ Broncos · Sun 4:25pm ET · CBS. Kansas City around -1.5 in Denver with a total of just 40.5. Points will be expensive. I see Mahomes rebounding this week, despite Vic’s pick.
Eagles @ Commanders · Sunday Night Football, 8:20pm ET · NBC. Washington is the favorite, around -5.5, against Philadelphia.
Bears @ Seahawks · Monday Night Football, 8:15pm ET · ESPN. Seattle around -3. Finish the game, then stay up for the Melbourne Cup later that night.
Jaguars @ Ravens · Thursday Night Football, Nov 5, 8:15pm ET · Prime Video. Week 9 starts in Baltimore.
⚾ And the World Series is over. The Brewers won Game 5 on Wednesday, 4-1, the first title in the franchise’s 57 years. Congratulations, Milwaukee.
Bet the NFL at Fanatics in any MyWinners venue →
→ 🍔 BOBBY V’s Stamford and Windsor Locks. The Breeders’ Cup on the racing wall both days, the Classic at 6:16pm ET tomorrow, and every NFL window on Sunday from 1pm ET with the Jets in the early slot. Bet racing at the counter, and the NFL at Fanatics.
→ 💰 LIVE PROMOS The Sun King has left Versailles. Leon, our head of promotions, is on holiday this week, but before he left he gave away so much money that Jules burst his appendix. We’ve checked the books. Here’s what he left behind: 👉 Bet and Get at Finger Lakes and Mountaineers Park early week, 3% cashback on all exacta’s and Trifecta’s at Pelota Miami Jai Alai, 3% cashback all US and Canadian harness racing and 4% cashback on all Australian Greyhounds. There’s still time left to get your free game worn Jai Alai jersey too!
→ LIVE FROM THE BLOG
Rob has written a Breeders’ Cup library. Everything you need for the next two days:
📰 Breeders’ Cup Classic 2026: runners, odds and predictions. The full case for Forever Young.
📰 Breeders’ Cup Future Stars Friday 2026. All five juvenile races, one pick each.
📰 Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday 2026. All nine Grade 1s previewed.
📰 Forever Young: the world’s best dirt horse goes for a second Classic.
That’s the weekend. Fourteen Grade 1s, the Melbourne Cup on Monday night, and the clocks going back in the middle of it, so Sunday is an hour longer and you’ll need it. Bet Friday’s juveniles early, build Saturday’s tickets tonight, and save something for the Classic at 6:16pm ET, because that’s the race we’ll be talking about all winter. Forever Young is trying to do what only Tiznow has done, and you’ll want a ticket in your hand when the gate opens. Halloween at the racetrack. Nobody needs a costume.
See you at the rail. Or at Keeneland, in spirit, on the couch.
Mike B
VIP & Community, MyWinners
Tel: +1800 468 2260 (support)
P.S. This week’s live-racing ledger, so far, has handed out over half a million dollars to our online players dialed in on the prize. Vic (not our NFL form student and legend of Vic’s Picks fame and less fortune) kicked things off at Belmont Park with a $60 Pick 4 that returned $4,502, which suggests either divine intervention or a very generous tote. Not to be outdone, PS from our very own Nutmeg State turned $16 into $2,735 on another Belmont Pick 5, while RK boxed a Plainridge trifecta for $3 and walked away with $1,673. For yet another week, though, the real lottery ticket belonged to our greyhound specialist and top K9 handicapper “A”, whose $2 trifecta at Tri-State Evening paid $1,438, a 719/1 shot that makes most “sure things” look like parking tickets.
Belmont Park was the undisputed heavyweight hunting ground for you Winners. Santa Anita, Churchill Downs and the ever-generous Wheeling Matinee also kept the payouts flowing. On the bet-type front, straight WIN tickets did the heavy lifting as usual, but the real fireworks came from the exotics. Superfectas and trifectas delivered the eye-watering multiples, with several scores between 200/1 and 700/1 that turned pocket change into rent money.
And that, folks, is why we still call it gambling and not “responsible adulting.” Congrats to our winners. Try not to spend it all on the next Pick 5 before the ink dries. The Breeders’ Cup is looking exciting this year, so keep those tickets handy. See you next week, when the longshots will once again pretend they have a plan. Winners info
P.P.S. Tonight’s Mega Millions is around $463 million. Tomorrow’s Powerball is around $760 million. That’s more than $1.2 billion across two draws, and the Powerball draw is a few hours after the Classic, in case you’re still searching for that longshot! Tickets at all nine MyWinners venues, teller window or self-service machine.
P.P.P.S. Online customers can bet both days of the Breeders’ Cup right now. At the venues, Saturday’s advance card opens at 11am ET today.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2026 Breeders’ Cup starts on Friday, October 30, with first post at Keeneland at 11:55am ET. Future Stars Friday has five championships for two-year-olds, run from 2:55pm ET to 5:35pm ET. Championship Saturday follows on October 31 with nine Grade 1 races, starting with the Filly & Mare Sprint at 1:10pm ET and finishing with the Classic.
The $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic goes at 6:16pm ET on Saturday, October 31. NBC has the coverage from 3:30pm ET to 6:30pm ET, so the Sprint through the Classic are all on NBC. Peacock and FanDuel TV carry both days, and you can watch and bet every race in the MyWinners app. This week’s Morning Line Breeders’ Cup edition has our full Classic breakdown and tickets.
Yes. Saturday’s full card is open for advance betting at the counter from Friday morning, along with the cross-day doubles: Juvenile to Classic, Juvenile Fillies to Distaff and Juvenile Turf to Turf. All nine MyWinners venues open at 11am ET on Friday and 10:30am ET on Saturday. Check your ticket says Saturday before you leave the window. Online customers can bet both days right now.
Three pools pay out no matter what on Championship Saturday. The Pick 6 runs from the Filly & Mare Turf through the Classic. The Late Pick 5 runs from the Sprint through the Classic. The last Super High 5 of the day also has a mandatory payout. Any Friday Pick 5 money nobody hits rolls into Saturday’s Late Pick 5, so the Morning Line Breeders’ Cup advice is to build those tickets on Friday night.
Plenty. Victoria Derby Day at Flemington runs from 9:20pm ET on Friday night. The Tenno Sho (Autumn) in Tokyo goes at about 1:40am ET on Saturday night, and the A$10.2 million Melbourne Cup (about US$7.2 million) runs late on Monday night ET. Closer to home, Belmont Park has five stakes on Sunday, led by the Bold Ruler and the Forty Niner, and Santa Anita runs the Twilight Derby. The Morning Line Breeders’ Cup edition covers all of them.
