1. Arrogate (trainer Bob Baffert, jockey Mike Smith, 7-5 odds): Baffert's latest gem emerged late as a 3-year-old with a record-setting win in the Travers Stakes setting up the stunner in the November Breeders' Cup Classic, which propelled him to winning the Longines World's Best Racehorse award for 2016. The dream rematch with California Chrome came about in December when Juddmonte Farms, headed by Sheikh Khalid Abdullah purchased the entry from Coolmore Partnership. Smith will be looking to add another crowning achievement to a Hall of Fame career that includes a record 25 wins in the Breeders' Cup.
2. Prayer for Relief (Dale Romans, Florent Geroux, 50-1): The 9-year-old long shot has earned more than $2 million in a 45-race career that began under Baffert. He won six stakes races from ages 3 to 5 but hasn't come home first since 2013. Jeff Weiss, a Miami real estate mogul, is hoping for some magic in partnership with Zayat Stables, which ended the 37-year Triple Crown drought with American Pharoah in 2015.
3. Neolithic (Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez, 30-1): One of two Pletcher-trained entries, the 4-year-old has won both of his starts at Gulfstream, including a nine-length runaway in an allowance race Dec. 16 when he went 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.58. He carries the hopes of Starlight Racing, co-managed by Jack Wolf, also CEO of the Pegasus Cup.
4. Noble Bird (Mark Casse, Julien Leparoux, 25-1): The 6-year-old has seven wins, including the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs in 2015, and earnings of just over $1 million in 20 starts. This will be his first at Gulfstream. He is a front-runner, and will do so on behalf of a partnership that includes John Oxley, 80, a long-time prominent figure in polo in Palm Beach County whose prime achievement in racing was campaigning 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos.
5. War Story (Jorge Navarro, Antonio Gallardo, 50-1): This is one of the most intriguing entries, initiated by Michigan native Dan Schafer, a 33-year-old owner of several Jet's Pizza franchises in the Midwest who has never owned a racehorse but is a long-time racing fan. He put up the $1 million and eventually entered into a partnership with Loooch Racing Stables for War Story, a gelding who last month won the Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct.
6. War Envoy (Craig Dollase, Luis Saez, 50-1): The 5-year-old bay is winless in his past eight starts — 18 of 21 have come on turf. He had some second- and third-place finishes in Ireland and England. The entry is a return to racing for the father-son team of Mick Ruis Sr. and Mick Ruiz Jr., a former trainer and jockey who left the sport for success with a company repairing U.S. Navy vessels in San Diego.
7. Shaman Ghost (Jimmy Jerkens, José Ortiz, 20-1): This is Gulfstream Park owner Frank Stronach's entry. The 5-year-old Shaman Ghost is a son of Stronach's 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper. He upset heavily favored Frosted in the Woodward Stakes in September.
8. Semper Fortis (Doug O'Neill, Tyler Gaffalione, 50-1): Canadian owner Paul Reddam was at the pinnacle of racing in 2012 when I'll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and again in 2016 when Nyquist gave him another Derby win. This horse, a 4-year-old, is not in that class, still in search of his first stakes win, though he did finish second in three stakes races in 2016. Gaffalione, a native of Davie, was the 2015 Eclipse Award winner as outstanding apprentice jockey.
9. Keen Ice (Todd Pletcher, Javier Castellano, 12-1): The 5-year-old's claim to fame is defeating American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers stakes. Pletcher began training him last year before he rallied from off the pace to third in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He'll run for a partnership headed by Ronald and Jerry Frankel, whose theatre productions have won nine Tony Awards.
10. Breaking Lucky (Reade Baker, Luis Contreras, 25-1): The original stakeholder was Dean Reeves, whose Mucho Macho Man won the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2013. He has joined in a partnership with five other groups including West Point Thoroughbreds, which has trained horses for Florida Panthers owner Vinnie Viola. This 5-year-old could be a factor, having won the Grade 3 Seagram Cup Stakes at Woodbine in 2016.
11. Eragon (Laura Wohlers, Edgar Prado, 50-1): The 6-year-old has three Group 1 wins in his native Argentina but will be racing for the first time in North America. Owner Jim McIngvale, known for insisting his horses run drug free, had intended to enter his Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Runhappy, but he was retired to stud.
12. California Chrome (Art Sherman, Victor Espinoza, 6-5): This will be the swan song for one of the most popular racehorses in recent years, the 2014 and 2016 Eclipse Horse of the Year. The 6-year-old chestnut is already the richest North American-race thoroughbred with more than $14.5 million in lifetime earnings. Claiming the $7 million winner's share would make him the all-time leader, surpassing the $19 million of Japan's Orfevre.
