The Breeders' Cup: great fields, huge stakes--is this the coolest event in horse racing? Bet on it.(WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH ...)

If you're one of those people who puts a dime down on the Kentucky Derby and thnkis you're edgy because it's not just another football-Sunday wager, maybe it's time to grow up and bet the Breeders' Cup. Every serious horse player in the country--and there are about 3 million of thwm--will tell you the Breeders' Cup is the best, most diverse, most unpredictable and most lucrative (for the winners, and potentially for you) race card anywhere, all year.

Six figures? Puh-lease.

Eight races in the major racing categories pit the best available horses in manageable 14-horse fields with many of the richest purses paid all year. The $14 million in purses is paid for by breeders (hence their Cup), who donate one stud fee annually (up to $100,000 depending on the horse) for each horse whose offspring they want to be eligible for consideration in the field. No purse is less than $1 million; the culminating Breeders' Cup Classic pays $4 million-twice what the Kentucky Derby pays.

It all takes place over five hours, this year on Saturday, October 29, at Belmont Park. NBC will televise all the races beginning at 1 p.m. ET. It's NBC's last hurrah with the Breeders' after more than 20 years; ESPN will take over next year.

A field of dreams (and diversity)

A huge assortment of top horses, of both sexes, compete in a range of race formats. You've got youngsters (the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile), turf horses (the John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf, a 1.5-mile haul), sprinters (the TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint, at three-quarters of a mile, which the race world calls "six furlongs" ...