If you liked last year’s Breeders’ Cup, chances are you’re going to like this year’s as well.
Not only is the 42nd Breeders’ Cup being held for the second straight year at Del Mar, just outside San Diego, Calif., but five horses who won Breeders’ Cup races in 2024 are expected back to try and repeat in their respective divisions. That quintet includes Classic winner Sierra Leone, Turf winner Rebel’s Romance, Distaff winner Thorpedo Anna, Sprint winner Straight No Chaser, and Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano.
Of that group, only Thorpedo Anna has one more race to run before the Breeders’ Cup, as the reigning Horse of the Year starts in Saturday’s Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland. Citizen Bull, last year’s Juvenile winner, is being pointed to this year’s Dirt Mile.
Moreover, five horses who finished second in Breeders’ Cup races last year – Fierceness (Classic), Bentornato (Sprint), Cinderella’s Dream (Filly and Mare Turf), Motorious (Turf Sprint), and Johannes (Mile) – are expected to try and go one better in those same races this year.
The two-day Breeders’ Cup will be held Oct. 31-Nov. 1, with five races for 2-year-olds being run the first day and nine races for 3-year-olds and up being conducted on the next. The total purses offered are $30 million, with the $7 million Classic the richest of the 14 races.
The results of the Breeders’ Cup typically go a long way toward determining divisional champions. Two current leaders in their respective North American divisions are not expected to compete at this year’s Breeders’ Cup.
Book’em Danno, the leader of the sprint division, will not race again this year, with trainer Derek Ryan saying last weekend that he will instead be aimed at a 2026 campaign. Deterministic, the pro-tem leader of the male turf division, has not had a workout since his victory in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga on Aug. 2. He would have been a contender for the BC Mile, and his connections have not commented on this colt’s future.
At the 2024 Classic, Sierra Leone defeated Fierceness and Forever Young as 3-year-olds swept the top three spots in the race. That trio of now-4-year-olds will return in what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive editions ever of the Classic, run at 1 1/4 miles.
Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown, won the Whitney this year and ran second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup with a compromised trip. He will attempt to become the first repeat winner of the Classic since Tiznow in 2000 and 2001. Since then, six Classic winners have failed in their bids to repeat, including Zenyatta, Curlin, and Arrogate.
Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher, won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic in August and will be competing in a Breeders’ Cup race for a third consecutive year. In 2023, he won the BC Juvenile. The Japan-based Forever Young, third in last year’s Classic, completed his preparations for this year’s renewal with what looked to be an easy 2 1/2-length victory in the Nippon TV Hai Stakes Wednesday at Funabashi Racecourse in Japan.
Fierceness is one of four horses trainer Todd Pletcher could potentially have in the Classic, a race he won in 2019 with Vino Rosso, one of his 20 overall Classic starters. Mindframe, a two-time Grade 1 winner this year, and Antiquarian, the Grade 1 Jockey Club Cup winner on Aug. 31 at Saratoga, are definitely pointing to that race. A bumping incident in the Jockey Club Gold Cup led to Mindframe losing jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., thus his last full race was the June 28 Stephen Foster.
“It’s as deep [a field] as we’ve seen, but we feel like we got arguably some of the best chances that we’ve had also,” Pletcher said. “Vino Rosso we felt was going into it the right way, and the way this group is doing, we feel like all of them are capable if things play out the right way.”
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There is a potent group of 3-year-olds bound for the Classic, led by Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers winner Sovereignty. With a victory in the Classic, he would likely sew up Horse of the Year honors. Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, is the 9-5 Classic favorite on the morning line established by Daily Racing Form handicapper David Aragona. Sierra Leone is next at 5-1.
Mott won his first Classic 30 years ago with Cigar. He also won it in 2011 with Drosselmeyer.
The other 3-year-olds expected in the field are Journalism, a three-time Grade 1 winner who finished second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont; Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza, who finished third behind Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont and second to him in the Jim Dandy; and Nevada Beach, winner of last Saturday’s Grade 1 Goodwood.
There is a two-step entry process that will determine the fields for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races. The first step is the pre-entry phase, where horses can be pre-entered in as many as two races for which they are eligible. The pre-entry deadline is Oct. 20 and pre-entered fields will be announced on Oct. 22.
In the event a race oversubscribes, there is a multi-step process that helps determine a field’s composition. In a 14-horse race, the first seven horses to gain entry are those who have won a designated Breeders’ Cup Challenge race or have accrued the most points in graded stakes races. The next seven are determined by a Breeders’ Cup panel comprised of racing directors and secretaries. That panel also designates the order of preference for those who are not among the top 14.
In a race limited to 12 starters, the first six are determined by Breeders’ Cup Challenge race wins or points, while the remaining six are chosen by the panel. In a new wrinkle this year, horses pre-entered in two races must declare race entry preference by the morning of Oct. 23.
The next step is the entry phase. which takes place on Oct. 27. During this phase, horses may only be entered in one race. In races where the maximum field is 14, up to four also-eligibles may be carded. In races where the maximum field is 12, up to six also-eligibles may be carded. Scratch time is 8 a.m. on the day of the race.
From Friday through Sunday, there are 21 Breeders’ Cup Challenge races being run in North America and France.
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