Breeders' Cup Entries: The Timeform view

Pre-entries were made this week for 15 races on the Breeders' Cup cards of Friday 2 November and Saturday 3 November at Santa Anita. Those 15 races have prize money of $25.5m between them and include entries from Peru, Argentina, Japan, Canada, France, Britain and Ireland, as well as a substantial home representation from the US.

The most valuable race, with $5m on offer, is the Classic, due off at half past midnight BST on Saturday/Sunday. In an all-American affair, 128-rated Game On Dude is the likely favourite, having been runner-up when the race took place at Churchill Downs 12 months ago and a winner of four of his six races this term.

However, the race of the meeting is arguably the Mile, which precedes the Classic on Saturday, in which 135-rated Irish-trained Excelebration (described as "Frankel by proxy") takes on the best horse in North America, Wise Dan, the high-class French filly Moonlight Cloud and last year's Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom.

Other notable highlights include the Ladies Classic, worth $2m, on Friday and the Turf, worth $3m, on Saturday.

The former has four fillies rated 125 or higher by Timeform, namely likely favourite Royal Delta, ex-British Questing, Awesome Feather and My Miss Aurelia. The last-two-named are unbeaten in 10 races and six races respectively.

The Turf sees Irish-trained St Nicholas Abbey going for a repeat of his 2011 win, but he faces stern opposition from top home-based turf colt Point of Entry, as well as from French-trained Shareta (two places ahead of St Nicholas Abbey when ninth in the Arc last time) and smart Japanese horse Trailblazer.

European-trained females seem to dominate the $2m Filly & Mare Turf on the Friday, through The Fugue, I'm A Dreamer, Nahrain and Ridasiyna, though Marketing Mix is a smart and consistent filly among the home contingent.

Other Europeans on show on the opening day include Irish Derby and Ascot Gold Cup winner Fame And Glory, who may reportedly have headgear in the $500k Marathon, Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Sky Lantern, who is among the market leaders in the $1m Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Royal Ascot winner Ceiling Kitty, a probable for the $500k Juvenile Sprint.

Smart British juvenile Dundonnell is one of several European entries for the $1m Juvenile Turf at the start of Saturday's card and could well go off favourite for the race. Starspangledbanner, formerly a high-class sprinter in Australia and Europe but below form since returning from an abortive spell at stud, is a lone European possible for the $1m Turf Sprint over Santa Anita's unique six-and-a-half furlong course later on day two.

126-rated filly Groupie Doll ($1m Filly & Mare Sprint), unbeaten colt Shanghai Bobby ($2m Juvenile) and defending champion sprinter Amazombie ($1.5m Sprint) are just some of the other stars on show on Saturday on what promises to be an epic "World Thoroughbred Championships".

Check back in at this site for ante-post and day-of-the-race advice, "Blueprint" visualisations of how the races may unfold, a full debrief once the dust has settled and much more.