When: Saturday, October 27, 2007 Post time 5:35 ET
Where: Monmouth Park, Oceanport, New Jersey
Distance: 1 1/4 miles
Purse: $5 million

The Breeders' Cup Classic is the featured race of the two-day championship day of horse racing, which this year consists of eleven races for the first time with total purses in excess of $23 million.

The Classic matches up the best of the handicap division against the very best of the three-year-old crop that went down the Triple Crown Trail.

Often at stake is the Horse of the Year honors. The race has produced 12 Horse of the Year in 23 runnings of the race, including last year's winner Invasor.

The photo finish camera often decides the race. Eight times in this race, the margin of victory was decided by a neck or less, three times the outcome decided by a nose.

The Classic also produced the biggest price in Breeders' Cup history when Arcangues pulled off the shocker in 1993, returning $269.20 for a $2 wager.

Volponi paid $89.00 in 2002, and Wild Again returned $64.60 in 1984, the first running of the race.

Tiznow is the only two-time winner of the Classic. Trained by Jay Robbins and ridden by hall of fame jockey Chris McCarron, the son of Cee's Tizzy won in 2000 by a neck over Giant's Causeway, came back in 2001, and prevailed by a nose over Sakhee.

Seven three-year-olds have won the Classic, the last being Tiznow in 2000.

Ghostzapper produced the fastest time in 2004. He stopped the timer in 1:59.02 over a fast track at Lone Star Park.

Favorites have won two of the last three runnings of the Classic, but the favorite failed to hit the winners circle in the previous six.

The average payoff over the last ten years of the Classic is $23.74. If we exclude Volponi ($89.00), the average payoff is still a hefty $16.49.

Two of the last ten runnings of the Classic were won by going to the front and staying there. Horses sitting just off the pace have fared well, and even late running closers have had their day in the race.

Classic winners have gone on to be quite productive in the breeding shed. Classic winners A.P. Indy, Awesome Again, Tiznow, Unbridled, and Wild Again have all produced at least one winner on Breeders' Cup Day.

1990 Classic winner Unbridled produced three: Unbridled's Song (1995 Juvenile), Anees (1999 Juvenile), and Halfbridled (2003 Juvenile Fillies).

The only jockeys with more than one win in the Classic are retired: Jerry Bailey (five), Chris McCarron (five), and Pat Day (four).

Average Exotic payoffs for last four years:
$2 exacta: $72.05
$2 trifecta: $755.55
$2 superfecta: $8,145.85