The grounds for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races will soon be ready, the horses have completed their final workouts and the jockeys and trainers are discussing tactics.

As a week of anticipation begins for the 41st Breeders’ Cup on Friday and Saturday, November 1-2, here are storylines, helpful tips and more to know.

If you go

Ticket tiers include general admission to the field ($67 Friday, $133 Saturday), general admission trackside ($100 Friday but sold to $199 Saturday), box seats ($475 $ Friday, sold out Saturday) and the Clubhouse Terrace restaurant ($1,749 per seat for both). days).

Check BreedersCup.com for updates on ticket availability.

Attendance is capped at 37,500 people.

…If you are not

Streaming television and video coverage of the five Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and nine on Saturday will be split between NBC, USA, Peacock and FanDuel TV. Find exact times at BreedersCup.com and in your newspaper’s sports TV listings.

Online betting is available – and completely legal in California on horse racing – through FanDuel and other account betting sites.

This week

Final fields, post positions and morning line odds will be set Monday beginning at 4:15 p.m. (on FanDuel TV and streamed live on BreedersCup.com). Past performance charts should be available for purchase on the Daily Racing Form and Equibase sites shortly thereafter.

Del Mar begins its month-long fall season Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Friday racing begins at 11:35 a.m. (the first of five Breeders’ Cup races is at 2:45 p.m.) and Saturday at 10:05 a.m. (the first of nine Breeders’ Cup races is at noon).

What is at stake

As the full name of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships suggests, winners of races for a variety of genders and ages, in the dirt and turf and sprint and road specialties, are typically elected each year to the Eclipse Awards as America’s best in their divisions, and one is usually named Horse of the Year.

It is one of the richest sporting events, where horse owners compete for $30 million in guaranteed purses. The purses were increased this year to $7 million (from $6 million) for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the flagship race for ages 3 and up, and to $5 million (from $4 million) for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, which attracts many of the best horses in Europe.

And that too

There is a lot at stake for punters. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita attracted more than $176 million in betting, and the two previous Breeders’ Cups at Del Mar generated $166 million in 2017 and $183 million in 2021. Saturday’s Pick 6 — which this time will challenge bettors to combine the winners of races 7 through 12 — paid out as much as $2,687,611.20 (in 2003, the only perfect ticket held by two South Dakota men who only risked $8).

New this year

The Breeders’ Cup continues to go international, with 212 horses passing the “pre-registration” stage last week, including a record 80 horses from four other continents.

The racing schedule is different, with NBC’s college football schedule adjusted to place Classic as the fifth of Saturday’s nine Breeders’ Cup races instead of the seventh as was the case in 2023 or the last as this was the case before.

Equine stars

The Classic has a world full of stars: City of Troy, winner of the English Derby and the highest-ranked horse in the world, who will try to match his sire Justify’s affinity for dirt and offer the great Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien his first Classic; Forever Young, the Japanese colt who finished third in the Kentucky Derby, and Fierceness, the No. 1 American 3-year-old.

If the Classic doesn’t decide the Horse of the Year, Thorpedo Anna could take the crown by winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (which will take place two races before the Classic). Thorpedo Anna, a 3-year-old filly who nearly beat Fierceness while beating six other males in the Travers Stakes, may be the closest thing this year to an American horse with the potential to appeal to the general public.

Among the potential stars who won’t compete in the Breeders’ Cup is Mystik Dan, winner of the Kentucky Derby and North America’s top winner this year.

Human stars

Ryan Moore will come from Great Britain with City of Troy. If you want to understand why Moore is considered the best jockey in the world, watch him (on the rail in blue and orange) with Auguste Rodin in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf.

French-born and seasoned Californian Flavien Prat will ride Sierra Leone in the Classic, Chancer McPatrick in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and other contenders as he attempts to make his case for a maiden Eclipse Award as the top jockey in the country.

89-year-old Racing Hall of Famer Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has Seize the Gray in the Dirt Mile. His record for Breeders’ Cup victories (20) is threatened by O’Brien, Chad Brown and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert (18 each).

The local team

More than 40 eligible horses raced in Southern California, led by large groups trained by Baffert and Phil D’Amato. Baffert looks strongest in the Juvenile (Citizen Bull, Gaming, Getaway Car) and Juvenile Fillies (Non Compliant, Nooni), while D’Amato’s best hopes are in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (Thought Process) and Turf Sprint (Motorious).

Juvenile typically identifies the early favorite for the upcoming Kentucky Derby, and Baffert’s horses are eligible for the Derby again after Churchill Downs announced in July that it was lifting a ban that followed the disqualification of the 2021 Derby winner , Medina Spirit, for a failed drug test.

The Breeders’ Cup has avoided horse deaths in all four events since 2019, when Mongol Spirit suffered a fatal injury during the Classic at Santa Anita. But two horses died during 2023 pre-Breeders’ Cup training at Santa Anita, with Santa Anita Derby winner Practical Move’s death attributed to a “cardiac event” and Geaux Rocket Ride’s death attributed to a fractured fetlock .

Breeders’ Cup officials plan to discuss this year’s security measures during a “racing security and integrity briefing” for reporters Wednesday.