BREEDERS’ CUP RACE AT A GLANCE

* Race: Mile (on turf).

* Purse: $1 million.

* Course record: 1:32 3/5, by Sticky Wile in 1989.

* Pre-entry field: Barathea, Bigstone, Buckhar, Flawlessly, Fourstars Allstar, Kingmambo, Lech, Lure, Maryland Moon, Paradise Creek, Ski Paradise, Toussaud, Visible Gold, Wolfhound. (Also eligible: Catrail, Johann Quatz, Alydeed).

* Probable favorite: Lure.

* Record of favorites: Two winners in nine runnings, Royal Heroine in 1984 and Royal Academy in 1990.

* Average $2 win payoff: $25.20.

* Race Analysis: Fourteen horses running a mile on the Santa Anita turf course won’t make for fair racing, but that will be the situation in the Mile. A lot of horses won’t be able to show their best stuff because of poor post positions or traffic trouble.

With his tactical speed, Lure is almost guaranteed a good trip whenever he starts and that is one reason he will be favored to become a two-time Mile winner.

When he won the Mile last year at Gulfstream Park, Lure led every step of the way. Since, however, Lure has shown he can come from off the pace. In his last two victories, he was running fourth, then drew away when asked by jockey Mike Smith.

Visible Gold, a one-dimensional mare and a surprise Breeders’ Cup entrant, will give Lure a target. He probably will run a couple of lengths off her, move to the lead approaching the quarter pole and prove tough to run down.

The only question is how Lure will handle the local turf course, and that seems a minor concern. He has won races in Kentucky, Maryland and Florida as well as New York and he is at home on firm surfaces.

Toussand and Flawlessly are the hopes for the home team and females have won this race three times before--Miesque twice and Royal Heroine. However, Toussaud will need some luck and she had trouble in a five-horse field recently. Flawlessly has lost only three times in 15 starts on turf and has tactical speed, but some believe that she is not quite as good as she was a year ago.

Kingmambo, Bigstone and Ski Paradise are all talented Europeans and also consistent. Kingmambo hasn’t been worse than third in six starts this year and could blossom on the harder course. A son of Mr. Prospector trained by Francois Boutin, he is out of Miesque.

Bigstone beat Kingmambo in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot last month and has been in the money in all 10 of his starts. His sire, Last Tycoon, won the 1986 Mile on this course, paying $73.80 after beating Palace Music by a head. Ski Paradise has been first or second in all seven starts this year.