Owner: Harry Aleo of San Francisco, Cal.
Breeder: Susan Seper
Trainer: Greg Gilchrest (1-0-1-0 Breeders’ Cup, 1-0-1-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Russell Baze (2-0-0-0 Breeders’ Cup, 0-0-0-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• Squarely in the race for 2005 Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Male, Lost In The Fog has yet to suffer a defeat in his 9-race career.
• Grade 1 winner of Saratoga’s King’s Bishop, he is a 3-time Grade 2 winner of the Carry Back, Riva Ridge and Swale Stakes – all four races over different tracks.
• Won the Riva Ridge on Belmont Stakes day, proving he could handle the Breeders’ Cup home surface and a large crowd.
• Northern California-based colt dominated a maiden race last November at Golden Gate Fields over his home track in his career debut, then set the 6-1/2 furlong track record at Arizona’s Turf Paradise in his second career start to wrap up a 2-for-2 juvenile campaign.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Lost Soldier, is a son of the great producer Danzig. He stood for just $7,500 in 2005.
• Sire, Lost Soldier, won 11 of 45 starts in a durable career on turf and dirt, racing in Europe, Dubai and the United States, winning multiple graded stakes in the Midwest.
• Dam, Cloud Break, is an unraced daughter of Dr. Carter. Grand dam, Wistful, won the Grade 2 Hemstead at Belmont and was second in the 1-1/4 mile Lost In The FogDelaware Handicap.

Best Case For:

• Lost In The Fog has won at the six-furlong distance and beyond, showing that blinding speed needed to succeed and the guts to handle a dogfight if he’s put to a test. If you’re a speed-figure player, he’s never had a Beyer figure lower than 102. We know he handles Belmont just fine. Trainer Greg Gilchrest almost won the ’94 Sprint with filly Soviet Problem, so he knows the terrain as well.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Lost In The Fog has battle quarter cracks this year and has had an incredibly tough campaign, even if some of his detractors claim he “hasn’t faced anyone worthy.” His eight races this year have been at seven different tracks and the Breeders’ Cup will be his seventh cross-country flight of the year. He’ll need a break at some point, but just when will that be?

Bet You Didn’t Know:

• Only three US-based sophomore males have won the Sprint, Cajun Beat in 2003, Squirtle Squirt in 2001 and Reraise in 1998.

Owner: David Bloom of Los Angeles, Cal.
Breeder: Abrahams, Snukal and Bloom
Trainer: Gary Mandella (0-0-0-0 Breeders' Cup, 0-0-0-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Garrett Gomez (8-0-0-1 Breeders' Cup, 4-0-0-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• Last-to-first winner of the Oct. 1 Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park, snapping a six-race losing streak in 2005 and putting him among the leading contenders in the TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint.
• Finished third in Del Mar's two leading sprint races of the summer, the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien and the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Breeders' Cup.
• Two-time stakes winner at Hollywood Park in 2004, caputing the listed Ack Ack and the Grade 3 Vernon O. Underwood.
• In 2003, he won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap going 1-1/16 miles at Del Mar.

In the Genes:

• Late sire, Conquistador Cielo, relished Belmont Park, winning 1982 Horse of the Year honors primarily based on two performances over this track – the Metropolitan Mile and the Belmont Stakes – in a remarkable, five-day span.
•  As a stallion, Conquistador Cielo, best known for producing $2.8 million earner Marquetry, G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup upsetter Wagon Limit and top sprinters like Lexicon and Alannan.
• Dam, Tastetheteardrops, has produced one listed stakes winner in addition to Taste of Paradise.

Best Case For:

• He's got America's hottest rider the second half of 2005 aboard, Garrett Gomez, and we know Taste of Paradise has an affinity for Belmont Park. Why wouldn't he? His daddy was a world beater on this oval, and his late-running style fits the wide, sweeping Belmont Park turns.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Taste of Paradise is not a pure, six-furlong horse, and those middle-distance runners turning back for the Breeders' Cup Sprint historically have struggled. He needs a pace meltdown to do his best running at six panels, owning as many “out-of-the-money” finishes at this distance (three) as he does victories.

Bet You Didn't Know:

• Jockey Garrett Gomez's first Breeders' Cup mount was the 1994 Sprint, when he partnered with  former six-furlong world record holder Honor The Hero, finishing seventh after setting the pace.

Owner: Jay and Gretchen Manoogian of Mission Viejo, Cal.
Breeder: Glencrest Farm
Trainer: Chuck Simon (0-0-0-0 Breeders' Cup, 0-0-0-0 BC Turf)
Regular Jockey: tbd

Career Highlights:

• A steady sprinter on turf or dirt, Battle Won has steadily climbed the class ladder the past three years.
• Winner of the seven-furlong Grade 2 Churchill Downs Handicap on Derby Day 2005, he overcame a wickedly fast pace (1:07-4/5 for six panels) to draw away late despite chasing those fast fractions.
• Rattled off 3 straight runner-up efforts this summer against top rivals, first behind a track record-setting performance in the Aristides Breeders' Cup at Churchill and then in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar and the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga. Set the pace in both the Del Mar and Saratoga tilts.
• Won 3 of 9 starts in 2004, including a pair of listed turf stakes sprints before wrapping up his season in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin, finishing eighth of 14 to Silent Witness.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Honour And Glory, finished third in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Sprint and fourth in the 1995 Juvenile.
• Sire, Honour And Glory, was best known or winning the 1996 Grade 1 Met Mile over this same Belmont track in his $1.2 million-earning career, which also included winning the Grade 2 King's Bishop.
• Honour And Glory best known as a stallion for producing 2000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Caressing, 2005 UAE Derby winner Blues And Royals, and Grade 2-winning sprinter Put It Back.
• Dam, Call Her, was a minor stakes winner on dirt in New Jersey and multiple stakes placed on turf in Kentucky.

Best Case For:

• He's a hard-banging veteran who will be up among the early leaders no matter how fast the pace is, and rarely throws out the anchor and backs up. He's been measured against the east, west and world's best, so you know where he stands. There's very little question here if you think he's good enough.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Battle Won's best distance could be seven furlongs, and while he's superbly at six, he does look a touch better with another furlong. Part of that could be because he's had some trouble out of the gate. Note at least four troubled start comments in the past year, and when you're against the absolute best in the world and only going six furlongs, little things mean a lot. That could explain some of his narrow defeats.

Bet You Didn't Know:

• When Battle Won finished second in the June 25 Aristides Breeders' Cup Handicap at Churchill, race winner Kelly's Landing eclipsed the track record which had been set in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint by Kona Gold (1:07.77, which still remains the fastest BC Sprint in history).

Owner: Steve Taub of Santa Monica, Cal.
Breeder: Farnsworth Farms
Trainer: Kristin Mulhall (1-0-1-0 Breeders' Cup, 1-0-1-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Victor Espinoza (19-1-2-0 Breeders' Cup, 3-0-0-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• Rallied to finish third behind Smarty Jones and Lion Heart in the 2004 Kentucky Derby, with young trainer Kristin Mulhall (then aged 21) becoming the youngest female ever to saddle a Derby starter.
• Imperialism has shown excellence in sprint and route races in his career, winning this year's seven-furlong Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Handicap at Del Mar in last-to-first fashion.
• As a three-year-old, he won the seven-furlong Grade 2 San Vicente and the one-mile Grade 2 San Rafael. This winter, he finished second by a nose in the 1-1/8 miles Strub to 2005 Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful Rock Hard Ten.
• With a top three placing, Imperialism will surpass $1 million in career earnings. 

In the Genes:

• Sire, Langfuhr, was Canada's champion sprinter of 1996 after success south of the border in the G1 Vosburgh and G2 Forego. The following year he won the G1 Met Mile & G1 Carter in New York.
• Sire, Langfuhr, never won a race beyond one mile.
• As a stallion, Langfuhr best known for producing 2003 Canadian Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year Wando, as well as multiple G1-winning millionaire Imperial Gesture.
• Dam, Bodhavista, has produced seven foals including five-time grass stakes winner White Beauty, a half-sister to Imperialism.

Best Case For:

• He out-kicked Toast of Paradise in the Pat O'Brien at Del Mar, unleashing a strong move four wide. Taste of Paradise's subsequent victory in the Grade 1 Vosburgh against New York's best sprinters showed the west coast's strong hand. If Imperialism could close faster than Toast of Paradise going seven furlongs, it stands to reason he's comparable with that rival – or better – going six furlongs. They both yearn for a fast early pace.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Imperialism has never won at the Sprint's six-furlong distance, never finishing better than third in three career starts at this trip. Precisionist (1985) is the only Sprint winner in history to win this event without winning at least one six-furlong race in the same year, much less a career.

Bet You Didn't Know:

• Youth, and female trainers, have had a great history in the Sprint. Craig Dollase won the 1998 Sprint with Reraise as a 27-year-old (still the youngest conditioner ever to win any Breeders' Cup race). Also, Jenine Sahadi won the race in 1996 and 1997 with Lit de Justice and Elmhurst.

Owner: Michael Tabor of London and Monaco.
Breeder: Paul Smith
Trainer: Todd Pletcher (16-2-1-1 Breeders' Cup, 5-1-0-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: John Velazquez (47-6-4-4 Breeders' Cup, 6-1-0-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• One of America's top middle-distance dirt horses, Lion Tamer has yet to win in four starts this year after a 5-for-9 campaign in 2004.
• Winner of the prestigious Grade 1 Cigar Mile to cap his '04 season, he has twice placed in 2005 sprinting in the Grade 1 Vosburgh and Grade 2 Richter Scale Breeders' Cup.
• Defeated leading 2004 Eclipse Champion Sprinter candidate Pico Central in winning last year's Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.
• Five-year-old has earned nearly $900,000 in a career that saw him win the Grade 2 Hutcheson in 2003 and harbor Triple Crown dreams for a short time.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Will's Way, was a Saratoga legend, winning the 1996 Travers at age three and adding the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at age four. He won 6 of 13 starts for $954,400.
• Lion Tamer was from Will's Way's first crop of runners to race and his first major stakes winner.
• Sire, Will's Way, finished seventh in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic.
• Dam, Tippecanoe Creek (by Olympio), was minor stakes-placed in Maryland as a two-year-old and earned just over $75,000.

Best Case For:

• Trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez is as strong a tandem as there is in the game, both earning Eclipse Awards last year as their trade's best – and they won the 2004 Sprint with Speightstown. As for Lion Tamer, he's proven Grade 1 material and will be coming into the Sprint in a very advantageous “second-off-the-layoff” handicapping scenario, in that he's raced only once since taking more than four months off. He should improve from his Vosburgh performance, and will be one of those horses who pre-race workouts could be a huge indicator of performance.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Lion Tamer has won just one of five lifetime starts at Belmont Park, and while he showed some life in the Vosburgh, he beat only two horses combined in his two 2004 starts over this oval in the Tom Fool and Westchester handicaps.

Bet You Didn't Know:

• Only one jockey-trainer combination in history has won back-to-back Breeders' Cup races with two different horses (Corey Nakatani-Jenine Sahadi with Lit de Justice and Elmhurst in the 1996-'97 Sprint). Pletcher and Velazquez accomplished half the battle in 2004 with Speightstown and look to joint he history books with Lion Tamer.

Owner: Edward Evans of Casanova, Va. and New York, NY
Breeder: Edward Evans
Trainer: Mark Hennig (8-0-0-0 Breeders’ Cup, 2-0-0-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Javier Castellano (1-1-0-0 Breeders’ Cup, 0-0-0-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• Veteran six-year-old has gone over the $1 million mark in lifetime earnings this year with three wins from six starts in 2005.
• Scored his second straight win in the Grade 3 Westchester Handicap in May for his biggest score on the year. It marked the fourth year in which he’s one at least one stakes race: 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. He started just four times in an injury shortened 2003.
• Won just 1 of 12 starts last year at age five, but finished fourth or better 10 times in those dozen, top-shelf stakes races.
• Burst onto the national scene in 2002 when winning the Grade Riva Ridge on the Belmont Stakes undercard, then added the Grade 2 Dwyer and Grade 1 King’s Bishop.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Propsector’s Music, is a son of Mr. Prospector, but raced only three times without victory in an injury-shortened career. Sire is a half-brother to Grade 2 Shuvee winner Colonial Minstrel.
• He’s best known as a stallion for producing millionaire Gygistar, as well as listed  sprint stakes winners Holiday Music and Prospector’s Song.
• Dam, Starr County (by Ogygian), won 1 of 2 starts in a short career. She has produced eight foals to race, including stakes winner Stellar.

Best Case For:

• He’s never finished worse than fourth at Belmont Park in seven career starts and look at some of the races he’s attempted there – Riva Ridge (win), Dwyer (win), Westchester (two wins), Brooklyn Handicap (second), Met Mile (fourth) and Vosburgh (fourth). In a race that should be rapid up front with Lost In The Fog, his middle-distance abilities could be a big advantage with the horses pressing the early pace wilt.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Gygistar has not run in a true sprint race since the seven-furlong Sport Page Handicap nearly one year ago to the day. And, his last six-furlong race was Jan. 3, 2004…with his last six-furlong win coming in an allowance race July 25, 2003 at Saratoga.

Bet You Didn’t Know:

• Gygistar has raced in only one six-furlong stakes race in his career, a runner-up finish in the 2004 Mr. Prospector Handicap at Gulfstream. He finished second, beaten just over a length, by none other than 2003 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Cajun Beat.

Owner: New Farm (Eb Novak) of Marlton, N.J.
Breeder: New Farm
Trainer: Ben Perkins Jr. (4-0-0-0 Breeders' Cup, 3-0-0-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Stewart Elliott (0-0-0-0 Breeders' Cup, 0-0-0-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• Cruised to a near six-length victory in his only start of 2005, the Aug. 7 listed Teddy Drone Stakes at Monmouth, stopping the clock in a sizzling 1:08-2/5.
• Grade 1 winner of Maryland's DeFrancis Dash last year, capping a 4-for-7 season that saw him rise from entry-level allowance races to one of the nation's best sprinters.
• Raced just once in 2003 at age three, finishing second to eventual graded stakes winner Alke in a Belmont Park allowance race.
• Won 1 of 2 starts as a juvenile in 2002 while finishing second as the favorite in the Grade 2 Sanford at Saratoga to Whywhywhy.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Forest Wildcat, won 9 of 20 starts for $478,862, including the Grade 3 Maryland Breeders' Cup. He finished third in the Grade 2 True North at Belmont as five-year-old in 1996.
• As a stallion, Forest Wildcat best known for producing Grade 1 Acorn winner Forest Secrets and Grade 2 Churchill Downs Handicap winner D'Wildcat.
• Dam, Penniless Heiress (by Pentelicus), has produced three major sprint stakes winners –Wildcat Heir, Forest Heir and Forest Heiress (all full siblings).

Best Case For:

• His last three Beyer Speed Figures have been 110, 109 and 117 – numbers that put him near the head of the Sprint division on paper. He beat elite sprinters Midas Eyes and Clock Stopper last year in the DeFrancis, so we know he's been tested for class.

Biggest Knock Against:

• Health and fitness. Wildcat Heir has started only once in the past 11 months, and has had year-long interruptions previously in his injury-plagued career. Even though he's finished first or second in 10 of 11 career starts, you have to wonder about a five-year-old with only 11 lifetime starts when the pedal gets pressed totally to the floor as it will be in the Sprint.

Bet You Didn't Know:

• Wildcat Heir would be the fifth horse that the Perkins family has taken to a Breeders' Cup Sprint. Ben Jr. sent out Delaware Township and Meritocrat, while Ben Sr. saddled Appealing Skier and Confide.

Owner: Mike Pegram of Mount Vernon, Wash.
Breeder: Harbor View Farm
Trainer: Bob Baffert (41-3-7-3 Breeders’ Cup, 5-1-0-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Mike Smith (52-10-6-3 Breeders’ Cup, 9-1-1-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• Former claimer had never run in a stakes race prior to 2005, but has burst onto the scene as one of the world’s top-ranked sprinters.
• Multiple Grade 2 winner of the Smile Sprint during Calder’s Summit of Speed and the True North Breeders’ Cup on Belmont Stakes Day in New York.
• Made his stakes debut Jan. 2 at Santa Anita when third in the Grade 3 El Conejo.
• Raced only twice during injury-shortened 2004 season, and twice in 2003 as a 3-year-old as well.
• Won his 4^th career start in 2002, breaking his maiden for $50,000 claiming at Churchill Downs.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Holy Bull, was 1994 Horse of the Year behind wins in races like the Grade 1 Travers, Met Mile, Woodward, Florida Derby and Haskell.
• As a stallion, Holy Bull is enjoying a tremendous 2005 with Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo topping the marquee. He also sired 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and Champion 2-Year-Old Male Macho Uno.
• His unraced dam, Dreamlike, is one of the word’s best-bred mares by legendary stallion Storm Cat out of Eclipse Champion mare Flawlessly, a two-time Breeders’ Cup starter in the Juvenile Fillies and Mile.

Best Case For:

• Long before trainer Bob Baffert was winning Triple Crown races like games at a carnival, he was renowned for his work with sprinters, including 1992 BC Sprint champ Thirty Slews. Baffert’s patience with this horse has been worthy of praise, and he’s the prototypical veteran sprinter whose overcome health issues to peak in his twilight. He ran the best race of his career at Belmont, so there’s no question about the track.

Biggest Knock Against:

• He ran the Smile Sprint at Calder in 1:09-4/5 on the very same day that Lost In The Fog won the Carry Back in 1:09-1/5, about three lengths faster and in absolute cruise control. Of course, his performance in the Vosburgh will show how he stacks up with the other serious Sprint contenders.

Bet You Didn’t Know:

• 27 of trainer Bob Baffert’s 41 all-time Breeders’ Cup starters have been 2-year-olds. Baffert’s 1-for-14 with older horses in the World Thoroughbred Championships, topped by Thirty Slews’ win in the 1992 Sprint.

Owner: Buckram Oak Farm of Kentucky
Breeder: Joe Mulholland Jr. and Sr.
Trainer: Richard Dutrow Jr. (2-0-0-0 Breeders' Cup, 1-0-0-0 BC Sprint)
Regular Jockey: Edgar Prado (41-0-4-4 Breeders' Cup, 6-0-1-0 BC Sprint)

Career Highlights:

• One of the nation's top three-year-old sprinters behind Lost In The Fog, he won the one-mile Grade 2 Jerome Handicap by five lengths in his most recent start.
• Finished third as the 6-to-5 favorite this summer in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga.
• Opened his season with a third-place run at Belmont in the restricted Light The Fuse Stakes.
• Won 1 of 4 starts as a juvenile in 2004, and was the pacesetter in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes before tiring to finish fourth in his only career Grade 1 attempt.

In the Genes:

• Sire, Old Trieste, won 6 of 14 starts for $847,944, including the Grade 2 Swaps and Californian.
• From the second crop of Old Trieste runners to race.
• Sire, Old Trieste, produced 2003 Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Minister Eric in his first crop.
• Dam, Ridden In the Stars (by Cormorant), earned more than $175,000 on the track and was listed stakes-placed in New York. She's the dam of two foals to race, both winners.

Best Case For:

• Silver Train has a nice-looking profile for a top-flight sprint stakes: past winning experience at six furlongs, but the ability to carry his speed a bit farther, which comes in handy when pressed for both breakneck speed and endurance against the best in the world. He loves the Belmont track, where he flew six panels in 1:07-3/5 in allowance company this summer. If he runs that fast again, he wins ... simple as that.  

Biggest Knock Against:

• While he's been amazingly fast at times, Silver Trainer has yet to beat a top-notch sprinter; Jerome runner-up High Fly was this year's nine-furlong Florida Derby winner and a veteran of the Triple Crown trail. Can he run sensational times with heat coming from all sides from the world's best? That we won't know until they open the gate.

Bet You Didn't Know:

• Silver Train is a son of a Breeders' Cup Classic alumnus, Old Trieste, so you may question a Sprint pedigree. But note that three Sprint winners all-time have been sons of horses who competed in the Classic: Elmhurst was by 1984 Classic champ Wild Again, while both Artax and Squirtle Squirt were sons of three-time Classic performer Marquetry.