Mongolian Groom will try to become the first gelding to win the Breeders' Cup Classic when he enters the starting gate for the $6 million race on Saturday at Santa Anita Park. The four-year-old son of Hightail has improved rapidly this year and is coming off the performance of his life, a win by more than two lengths in the Awesome Again Stakes. Trained by Enebish Ganbat, Mongolian Groom has three wins in 16 career starts and is going off with 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic odds of 12-1. The Bob Baffert trainee McKinzie, whom Mongolian Groom beat in the Awesome Again, is the 3-1 favorite in the latest 2019 Breeders' Cup odds. Post time for the Classic is at 8:44 p.m. ET. With such a strong field set to enter the starting gate, you need to see what Hammerin' Hank Goldberg has to say before making any 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic picks of your own.

The former horse racing analyst for ESPN and NBC, Goldberg became a legendary handicapper by going straight to the source. In 2004, he had dinner before the Belmont Stakes with trainer Nick Zito at a pizzeria in Queens. The dinner led Goldberg to play Zito's 36-1 monster long shot Birdstone to win and on top of his exacta, trifecta and superfecta bets. If you had laid $300 on Goldberg's Belmont plays, you would have cashed for more than $21,000.

Goldberg got 2019 off to a strong start by nailing the Pegasus World Cup, the richest horse race in North America. He also nailed the exacta at the Gotham Stakes, Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby. Anyone who has followed Goldberg's lead has seen some huge returns. 

Now, Goldberg has studied the 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic lineup and released his picks, predictions and exotic bets only at SportsLine.

We can tell you that Goldberg is fading McKinzie, the morning-line favorite at 3-1. In fact, he says McKinzie doesn't even hit the board, crushing the hopes of backers everywhere. The four-year-old son of Street Sense has seven wins in 13 career starts. He also has three wins in seven starts at Santa Anita. 

However, McKinzie is unproven at the Breeders' Cup Classic 2019 distance of 1 1/4 miles. He has lost both of his starts at 10 furlongs, including last year's Breeders' Cup Classic. He was 12th that day and lost by a whopping 31 lengths, the only off-the-board finish in his career. In addition, his second place finish in his prep for the Classic was worse than it looks on paper. He was no match for Mongolian Groom in the Awesome Again and lost even more ground after the wire. The performance did not suggest that McKinzie is set up to run his best on Saturday.

Instead, Goldberg is high on a huge double-digit long shot to hit the board. The Hammer is including this horse in his exotic wagers, and so should you. He's sharing which horse to back only at SportsLine.

Which horse wins the Breeders' Cup Classic 2019? Which long shot hits the board? And who finishes in the top four? Check out the latest Breeders' Cup Classic odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Goldberg's picks for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

2019 Breeders' Cup Classic odds

McKinzie (3-1)
Code of Honor (4-1)
Vino Rosso (4-1)
Elate (6-1)
Higher Power (6-1)
Yoshida (8-1)
Mongolian Groom (12-1)
Owendale (15-1)
Seeking the Soul (20-1)
War of Will (20-1)
Math Wizard (30-1)