Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes winner Sovereignty has been installed as the 6-5 favourite for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief will break from post six under regular rider Junior Alvarado.
The 2025 Breeders' Cup will be held from October 31, 2025 to November 1, 2025 in Del Mar, California.
The strength of the 42nd running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic has drawn comparisons to the 1998 edition, where Awesome Again toppled a star-studded field. The Ontario-bred beat future Hall of Fame racehorses Skip Away and Silver Charm; Belmont Stakes winners Victory Gallop and Touch Gold; and the G1 winners Swain, Arch, Coronado’s Quest, and Gentleman.
Nine of the 10 horses entered in this year’s edition of the 1 ¼-mile Classic are Grade 1 winners; the entrants have a combined 24 Grade 1 victories and over $44 million in combined earnings. The field includes seven millionaires, including last year’s Classic trifecta Sierra Leone, Fierceness, and Forever Young.More
Sovereignty (post 6) has been untouchable since capturing the Kentucky Derby. He enters the Classic on a four-race winning streak, posting scores in the Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes, and the Travers by 10 lengths last out. The Bill Mott trainee swept the Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings Poll, coming in first among voters for all 11 weeks.
The lone 2025 victory by last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Sierra Leone (post 7), came in the G1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2 by a length. It was the previous year’s Eclipse champion 3-year-old’s first race against Fierceness – the champion 2-year-old of 2023 – since running that rival down in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Fierceness (post 1) has done slightly better in the win column in 2025 compared to Sierra Leone. The Todd Pletcher trainee captured the G2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs and the G1 Pacific Classic – also 1 ¼ miles at Del Mar – by 3 ¼ lengths. Finishing second behind Fierceness that day was the three-time G1-winning 3-year-old Journalism, who is also entered in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Alas, the start of the Pacific Classic was a near-disaster for Fierceness breaking from the inside, as he almost jumped over the temporary rail shortly after the break. Thus, the inside post is a challenge the horse will have to overcome, but for the Breeders' Cup, there will be a longer temporary rail in place as the chute at the top of the stretch opens to the main track.
Forever Young (post 5), third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup and Kentucky Derby, is the only internationally based entrant in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. After his run at Del Mar last November, he returned to Japan to begin a winter campaign that saw victories in the local G1 Tokyo Daishoten and G1 Saudi Cup. After finishing third in the G1 Dubai World Cup, the Yoshito Yahagi trainee took the summer off – as is the norm in Japan. He returned on Oct. 1, winning the Nippon TV Hai by 2 ½ lengths over 1 ⅛ miles.
Other entrants include G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Antiquarian (post 10), G1 Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza (post 2), G1 Goodwood Stakes winner Nevada Beach (post 3), and G1 Stephen Foster winner Mindframe (post 8), who could be unbeaten this year if not for losing jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. at the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup last out.
The only entrant lacking a graded stakes victory is Contrary Thinking (post 4), whom trainer Chad Brown entered as a pacemaker for last year’s late-running victor, Sierra Leone.
THE BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC FIELD
1 - Fierceness (John Velazquez, Todd Pletcher) 4-1
2 - Baeza (Hector Berrios, John Shirreffs) 15-1
3 - Nevada Beach (Mike Smith, Bob Baffert) 20-1
4 - Contrary Thinking (Florent Geroux, Chad Brown) 50-1
5 - Forever Young (Ryusei Sakai, Yoshito Yahagi) 6-1
6 - Sovereignty (Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott) 6-5
7 - Sierra Leone (Flavien Prat, Chad Brown) 8-1
8 - Mindframe (Irad Ortiz, Jr., Todd Pletcher) 10-1
9 - Journalism (Jose Ortiz, Michael McCarthy) 10-1
10 - Antiquarian (Luis Saez, Todd Pletcher) 15-1
