2025 Breeders' Cup Post Position Draw at Del Mar © Zoe Metz
TEN DRAW INTO BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC
The fields are set for the 42nd running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar. A total of 177 horses are entered in the 14 races to be run over two days, five on Friday, nine on Saturday.
The fields were drawn Monday afternoon. The lowest morning line favorite is Ted Noffey in the Juvenile at 4/5. The son of Into Mischief is trained by Todd Pletcher and will be ridden by John Velazquez who has been aboard for all three of the colt’s career starts, all victories, including the G1 Hopeful at Saratoga and the G1 Breeders Futurity at Keeneland.
The Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite is Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty who is 6/5 on the morning line. Ten horses are entered in the Classic, three from the Pletcher barn. He’s brought Mindframe, Antiquarian and Fierceness, winner of this year’s Pacific Classic.
Another 6/5 favorite is Precise in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, one of three favorites, Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has brought over with him this year. He also saddles True Love, the morning line favorite in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at 7/2 and Gstaad the 9/5 favorite in the Juvenile Turf.
Four horses who won here at Del Mar over the summer, are favored to win their Breeders’ Cup races. Sweet Azteca, two-time winner of the G3 Rancho Bernardo, is the 2-1 morning line favorite in the Filly and Mare Sprint; Motorious, three-time winner of the G3 Green Flash, is the lukewarm favorite at 7/2 in the Turf Sprint; Seismic Beauty, winner of the G1 Clement Hirsch, is the 9/5 favorite in the Distaff and Nysos, winner of the G2 San Diego is the 8/5 choice in the Dirt Mile.
Explora, the 5/2 favorite in the Juvenile Fillies, also ran at Del Mar last year in the G1 Debutante but finished second. She’s trained by Bob Baffert who leads the charge with seven races covered in this year’s Breeders’ Cup. O’Brien is next with six followed by Chad Brown with five.
Seven previous Breeders’ Cup winners will either be defending their titles or contesting other races this weekend. Citizen Bull, winner of the 2024 Juvenile is entered in the Dirt Mile; Fierceness winner of the 2023 Juvenile is back for the Classic; Full Serrano, last year’s Dirt Mile winner is back to defend his crown as are last year’s Sprint winner, Straight No Chaser, the Classic winner Sierra Leone, and the Turf winner Rebel’s Romance. 2023 Classic winner White Abarrio will run in the Dirt Mile.
The first Breeders’ Cup race on Friday is race six, the Juvenile Turf Sprint, and on Saturday it’s race four, the Filly and Mare Sprint.
SHIPPERS FROM OVERSEAS LAND IN DEL MAR FOR BREEDERS' CUP
The Breeders’ Cup has already set a new record and they haven’t even run a race yet. Horses from 13 countries will run in the 42nd edition of the World Championships set for this Friday and Saturday at Del Mar. That’s a new mark for global reach for the Breeders’ Cup. This year’s contenders hail from five continents and represent Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Japan, Peru, South Africa, the United States, and Uruguay.
The number of international shippers entered for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races totals 55, and while the number is less than last year’s record number of 80 that came for the Cup, it’s on par with the number that came stateside to race in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.
As with every year, trainer Aidan O’Brien leads the entourage coming to the Breeders’ Cup from across the pond. O’Brien is from Ireland and leads all trainers in the number of entries run in the Breeders’ Cup over the years at 186. This year he brings eight to the festivities that begin Friday with the Future Stars program, five races featuring top-level juveniles. O’Brien has all three of the Friday grass races covered and the Turf, Mile and Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday.
“For me, just being here is a good Breeders’ Cup,” O’Brien states. “To get any winner here is very tough and if you think otherwise you’re kidding yourself. When the races start a lot of stuff can happen. You can’t give an inch anywhere and if you do it’s very difficult to get it back.”
O’Brien is tied with D. Wayne Lukas for the most Breeders’ Cup wins by a trainer with 20.
“Everybody wants to win here,” O’Brien adds. “You’re racing for a lot of money and prestige. I don’t take anything for granted.”
The largest collection of international horses can be found in the Turf where no less than nine European horses have been entered. Minnie Hauk, the star of O’Brien’s group, just missed by a head in the Prix de l’Arc de’Triomphe. She already has wins this year in the Oaks at Epsom, the Irish Oaks and the Yorkshire Oaks.
She’ll be butting heads with Rebel’s Romance, trainer Charlie Appleby’s globetrotting star, who will be out to win the Turf for the second year in a row and third time overall.
“He comes here in great order,” Appleby says. “No horse knows his way better around these tracks than himself. He shipped in well and he looks great.”
Appleby and Juddmonte Farms have six horses entered in the Breeders’ Cup including Notable Speech in the Mile, a race Appleby has won three of the last four years.
Last year More Than Looks broke the string of four straight wins by the Europeans in the Mile and this year there are five Euro invaders looking to take back the crown. This year’s Mile also features a Japan-based mare, a Chilean horse making his U.S. debut and a horse from South Africa.
The sharpest decline in the number of horses coming over from one country is in the group from Japan. Their numbers are down from 20 last year to eight this year.
“I think last year was a little bit of a reality check,” says Kate Hunter, the liaison for the Japanese contingent. “Last year it was the first year back to Del Mar since they had their two big historic wins. The enthusiasm to come back here was insane. Everybody and their dog wanted to come over. We ran out of room on the plane.”
“I think they underestimated the title ‘World Championships’, Hunter continues. “I think everyone kind of thought ‘oh, this is going to be easy.’ But it’s the world championships for a reason and so I think they were a little more selective this year on who to send. All these horses are coming off wins this summer and wins over distances they match the races they’re entered in.”
Forever Young is back in the Classic. The popular colt has run third in both of his North American races, last year’s Kentucky Derby and in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He notched another third place finish a few months later in the Dubai World Cup.
There’s a horse from down under running in this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Invincible Papa, bred in Australian and based in Japan, is entered in the Turf Sprint. Three Australian-bred horses have run in the Breeders’ Cup over the years. Strawberry Road finished second in the Turf in 1985; Starspangledbanner ran tenth in the Turf Sprint in 2012 and Oleksandra finished ninth in the 2020 Turf Sprint.
COOLING OUT: A touch of class for the Breeders’ Cup. The grass walking rings have returned to the backside barn area at Del Mar this weekend. Where normally there is dirt or sand between the barns where the horses walk to cool out after their morning workouts there is now grass lawns…There were a few blowout works for Breeders’ Cup contestants this morning. Banishing, entered in the Sprint went three-furlongs in :37.60 for trainer Chad Summers; Be Your Best, entered in the Filly & Mare Turf, worked three-furlongs in :36.60; and Switch in Love, a Japanese hopeful in the Juvenile Fillies Turf worked four-furlongs in :53.00.