Well-rounded horse bettors get a chance to hone their skills early in the Santa Anita meet, as the California Cup will be run the this weekend with 10 races and a million dollars total on the line.

To accommodate the Breeders’ Cup, the 10-race card was front-loaded during the stand to give room for the BC horses to get used to the surface.

Let’s take a look at what happened recently in the two richest Cal Cup events.

The $200,000 California Cup Classic, at 1 1/8 miles, will highlight the day and horse bettors need to take a look in the rear view mirror to get inkling as to where the winners will come from this season.

Let’s start with the grand daddy, the Classic. Two years ago the winner Bold Chieftain used a turf prep at Bay Meadows to get ready for the big day.

He stalked mid pack and was inching away beating Doug’s O’Neill’s Lava Man in the process.

Horse bettors should take heed about where this guy came from as many horses from Northern California point to this day all year and the upsets usually follow.

A key to the type of winning style one needs in the Classic was stated by Chieftain’s rider, Russell Baze: “we wanted to get a position early and have something left when we turned for home, so it was kind of a balancing act.”

The lesson to be learned is tactical speed.

Last year O’Neill got his revenge as his student Mr. Chairman came from fifth and 3 lengths back to win by a head with a 96 Beyer. He was coming off a mile and three eighths turf win at Del Mar in a $40K optional but the race zapped him, he has not won since.

In the 2007 Cal Cup Mile Handicap on the grass, Unusual Suspect ran fourth in his prep, the Oak Tree Derby, and gave his foes a 9-length lead before cashing for Barry Abrams as a fat 12-1.

The splits were pretty fast in 2007 so this guy had to come from pretty far back but he won lengthening his lead late.

Last season, Swift Winds turned the natural hat trick in the CC Mile as he came from dead last to win by a length with a career best 102 Beyer. Again, it may have taken something out of him, as he has not won since.

Again bettors have to pay strict attention to Northern California runners as some stables seasons are made or busted by this day, and the boys up north don’t often get a chance to run for such cash.

Here are some key runners to watch this year if their connections take a swing. In the Classic unbeaten Bruce’s Dream will take his fair share of action but Grazen will be a handful off his clever win in the El Cajon. Another to watch is the classy Lethal Heat, who ran too good to lose in the Hirsch at Del Mar this summer.

On the baby watch, get down if Strike the Tiger comes in from New York. Other male juveniles to watch are Graduation hero Wolf Tail and NoCal interloper Excessive Passion.

The baby fillies is a wide open group but La Nez will try to turn the tables on her arch rival Repo and Unbridled Meeting will be in the thick of it.

Speed will be on display in the CC Sprint and they will have to beat California Flag and Cost of Freedom with a slight edge toward the latter.

Horse bettors this day should look beyond speed figures and current condition and scour the past performance for runners that have had this event in mind from Day One.