page_title: 2016 Breeders' Cup Classic
section_title: Contenders
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 Breeders' Cup Classic / Contenders
caption_attribution_description: English: California Chrome before the 2016 Breeders' Cup Classic. People with horse in photo (l-r): Exercise rider Dihigi Gladney, groom Raul Rodriquez, assistant trainer Alan Sherman (partially visible)
context_page_description: The 2016 Breeders' Cup Classic was the 33rd running of the Breeders' Cup Classic, part of the 2016 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships program. It was run on November 5, 2016 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California with a purse of $6,000,000.
  California Chrome, who was the top-ranked Thoroughbred racehorse in the world, was the favorite for the race after an undefeated season. He led for most of the race but was caught near the finish line by Arrogate, a late developing three-year-old.
  The Classic is run on dirt at one mile and one-quarter. It is run under weight-for-age conditions, with entrants carrying the following weights:
  Northern Hemisphere three-year-olds: 122 lb
  Southern Hemisphere three-year-olds: 117 lb
  Four-year-olds and up: 126 lb
  Any fillies or mares receive a 3 lb allowance
context_section_description: California Chrome (program #4) was the even money favorite on the morning line for the Classic after a perfect season of six wins from six starts, including the Dubai World Cup, Pacific Classic and Awesome Again Stakes. He was ranked number one on the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings and held the North American earnings record. California Chrome was also the 2014 Horse of the Year after  winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. His trainer Art Sherman said, "He's more mature, bigger, stronger, and you can see it in the way he's running. He's pretty well focused. He's kind of awesome to watch, to be honest with you."
  Arrogate (p #10) was the second choice at 5-2 on the morning line, based on his record-setting win in the Travers Stakes in late August. The lightly raced three-year-old was trained by Bob Baffert, who won the Classic in 2014 with Bayern and in 2015 with American Pharoah. The Classic was only his second stakes race appearance.
  Frosted (p #2) was the third choice at 3-1 on the morning line. Beaten by California Chrome in the Dubai World Cup, Frosted rebounded with noteworthy wins in the Metropolitan Handicap and Whitney before being upset in the Woodward.
  The 9-horse field also included:
  Effinex, runner-up in the 2015 Classic to American Pharoah
  Keen Ice, winner of the 2015 Travers
  Win the Space, finished 3rd in the 2016 Awesome Again
  Melatonin, winner of the 2016 Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup at Santa Anita but unraced since June 25
  War Story, 2nd in the Pennsylvania Derby Champion Stakes
  Hoppertunity, winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup
  Shaman Ghost, winner of the Brooklyn and Woodward, scratched the day before the race.
caption: California Chrome before the Classic
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2016:11:06 21:11:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2360", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "34174", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "19200", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:11:05 20:49:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:11:05 20:49:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTime": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "34042", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "82", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4166"}