ESPN Horse Racing

ESPN.com has challenged eight racing experts to match wits in the first Breeders' Cup Fan Fantasy game, where your votes will determine the greatest Breeders' Cup World Championships victors of all time. Over the next five weeks, the expert panel's eight greatest champions in the Mile, Sprint, Ladies' Classic (formerly the Distaff), Turf and Classic will be unveiled. Each week, the voting will be opened to ESPN.com readers, who will cast their ballots for the greatest champion in each division.

We'll keep a tally of how the expert stables are doing, provide a look at each of the weekly divisional contenders and provide the voting results in next week's BC Fan Fantasy column. A random draft order was conducted for the expert stables prior to the Mile draw, and here's how it shook out:

First choice: Joe Kristufek, Horseplayerpro.com.
Second choice: Gary West, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Third choice: Jay Privman, Daily Racing Form.
Fourth choice: Ed Fountaine, New York Post.
Fifth choice: Jeremy Plonk, ESPN.com.
Sixth choice: Simon Bray, TVG.
Seventh choice: Trevor Denman, ESPN's voice of the Breeders' Cup.
Eighth choice: Jon White, HRTV.

Breeders' Cup Fan Fantasy All-Time Mile Field (alphabetical, career stats):

Cozzene

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
1985	24	10	5	5	$978,152

Bio Blast: Selected seventh in our expert draft by Trevor Denman, Cozzene was third in the inaugural Mile in 1984 and came back to exact revenge in the event's second renewal & Drew away to a 2-1/4 length Mile win at Aqueduct over Al Mamoon and Shadeed & In addition to winning the Mile, the New York/New Jersey-based Cozzene won two other graded stakes in his career, topped by the G2 Longfellow Handicap ... Trained by Jan Nerud, his Breeders' Cup-winning rider was Walter Guerra.

Da Hoss

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
1996 & 1998	20	12	5	2	$1,931,558

Bio Blast: Selected third in our expert draft by Jay Privman, Da Hoss is one of three horses to have won the Mile twice, joining Lure and Miesque & In addition to winning the Mile, the Maryland-based Da Hoss won four other graded stakes in his career, topped by the G2 Del Mar Derby and G2 Jersey Derby & Set a world record for a 2-year-old running 6 furlongs on dirt in 1:07-1/5 in 1994 & First Mile win in '96 was a 1-1/2 length score at Woodbine over the eventual '97 winner Spinning World & With merely one start in-between and missing all of 1997, the then 6-year-old gelding returned to the scene in '98 at Churchill Downs to register a thrilling head victory over Hawksley Hill & Trained by Michael Dickinson, Da Hoss had multiple riders, but was guided to BC greatness by Gary Stevens ('96) and John Velazquez ('96).

Lure

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
1992 & 1993	25	14	8	0	$2,515,289

Bio Blast: Selected first in our expert draft by Joe Kristufek, Lure is one of three horses to have won the Mile twice, joining Da Hoss and Miesque & In addition to his two Mile scores, the New York-based Lure won eight other graded stakes in his career, topped by the G1 Caesar's International, G2 Bernard Baruch and the G2 Gotham on dirt at age 3 & In his first Mile success, Lure romped to a three-length, wire-to-wire victory at Gulfstream Park in '92, silencing a field that included Paradise Creek and Arazi & His encore victory also was a front-running masterpiece at Santa Anita, this time by 2-1/4 lengths over a field that included Paradise Creek, champion filly Flawlessly and the eventual '93 winner Barathea & Lure finished ninth in the '94 Mile in attempting an unprecedented BC three-peat, racing wide from post No. 14 at Churchill Downs & Trained by Shug McGaughey, Lure was piloted by Mike Smith.

Miesque

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
1987 & 1988	16	12	3	1	$2,070,163

Bio Blast: Selected second in our expert draft by Gary West, Miesque was a two-time Breeders' Cup Mile heroine who posted winning margins of 3-1/2 and 4 lengths, the latter still tied for the biggest blowout in Mile history (matched by her grandson Miesque's Approval in 2006) & In addition to her two Mile wins, the French-based Miesque won eight other graded/group stakes in her career; in fact, all eight were Group 1 scores overseas, topped by English 1000 Guineas, French 1000 Guineas and back-to-back renewals of France's prestigious Prix Jacques le Marois & As a 3-year-old in '87 at Hollywood Park, she bested a field that included champion English miler Sonic Lady & She returned to the States in '88 to score a romping win at Belmont over eventual '89 Mile winner Steinlen, reigning Belmont Stakes winner Bet Twice and Arlington Million winner Mill Native & Trained by Francois Boutin, Miesque was ridden by Freddie Head.

Royal Heroine

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
1984	21	10	4	2	$1,299,449

Bio Blast: Selected fourth in our expert draft by Ed Fountaine, Royal Heroine registered the inaugural Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park with a popular and decisive score as the favorite, setting a North American record for a turf mile in 1:32-3/5 & The one-time European switched bases to southern California late in her 3-year-old season before finding much success in her title run year at age 4 & Among those in her wake in the '84 Mile were French star Lear Fan and top east coaster Cozzene, who would come back to win the '85 Mile a year later & In addition to her Mile win, Royal Heroine also annexed six graded/group stakes in her career, including the G1 Hollywood Derby vs. the boys, the G1 Matriarch and the G2 Prix de l'Opera & Trained by John Gosden, Royal Heroine was ridden by Fernando Toro.

Six Perfections

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
2003	14	6	6	1	$1,811,178

Bio Blast: Selected sixth in our expert draft by Simon Bray, Six Perfections overcame post No. 12 to win the '03 Mile at Santa Anita with a thrilling stretch run & The French-based filly was a three-time grade/group stakes winner outside of her Mile success, including the G1 Criterium in her homeland as a 2-year-old and the G1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay at 3 & Six Perfections returned to finish third in the '04 Mile at Lone Star Park behind longshot Singletary & Her win in the '03 Mile marked back-to-back Mile successes for the Niarchos Family and trainer Pascal Bary, who won the '02 event with Domedriver & Trained by Pascal Bary, Six Perfections was ridden to Breeders' Cup glory by Jerry Bailey.

Spinning World

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
1997	14	8	3	1	$1,734,477

Bio Blast: Selected fifth in our expert draft by Jeremy Plonk, Spinning World avenged his narrow loss to Da Hoss in the '96 Mile by scoring an emphatic, two-length victory in the '97 renewal at Hollywood Park, defeating the likes of Geri in a Mile dominated by American entrants & Equaled Royal Heroine's Hollywood course record (and then BC Mile record) of 1:32-3/5 & The French-based colt was a six-time graded/group stakes winner in addition to his Mile glory, winning races like the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas, G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and successive renewals of the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois ... Trained by Jonathan Pease, Spinning World was ridden by Cash Asmussen.

War Chant

Breeders' Cup Champion	Starts	Wins	Places	Shows	Earnings
2000	7	5	1	0	$1,130,600

Bio Blast: Selected eighth in our expert draft by Jon White, War Chant became the most lightly raced Mile winner of all-time when the 3-year-old tallied the 2000 event held at Churchill Downs in heart-pounding style & Racing 12th of 14 for much of the going, War Chant blitzed past eight rivals in the final furlong to win a four-horse photo by a neck as the contentious 7-to-2 favorite & In addition to the Mile win, War Chant was a two-time graded stakes winner of the G2 San Rafael on dirt and the G2 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile on grass & War Chant became the second Breeders' Cup champion sired by a BC Distaff winner. The son of Hollywood Wildcat joined My Flag (Personal Ensign) on the select list ... Trained by Neil Drysdale, War Chant was ridden to Mile success by Gary Stevens.

Jeremy Plonk has been an ESPN.com contributor since 2000. You can E-mail Jeremy about this topic or anything racing-related at Jeremy@Horseplayerpro.com.