The 2025 Breeders’ Cup is upon us! The eyes of the racing world are on Del Mar for this year’s World Championships, and we’ve got several price plays for Friday and Saturday “where the turf meets the surf.”

With 14 races, full fields, and some of the top horses in training, there are plenty of opportunities to find value. Let’s take a look!

FRIDAY, OCT. 31

Race 6, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: #6 Intricate Spirit (12-1 morning-line odds)

Intricate Spirit wins Futurity Stakes (Eclipse Sportswire)

My lone longshot on the Friday program comes in the very first race of the event. Some very fast 2-year-olds were entered, and I think there’s plenty to like with this Miguel Clement trainee.

Intricate Spirit won at first asking in August at Saratoga, defeating Turf Star (who was entered in the Juvenile Turf to finish the Friday card). He then ran second on the quirky Kentucky Downs turf course (to Street Beast, another Juvenile Turf runner) before bouncing back in the Grade 3 Futurity Stakes at Aqueduct. There, he pulled clear by nearly two lengths in a swift 1:07.98 for the six-furlong distance.

Simply put, Intricate Spirit just hasn’t done much wrong. In fact, he’s 2-for-2 on conventional turf courses, and he’s taken steps forward on speed figures in every start to date. There are some nice prospects in here, but Intricate Spirit hits me as a genuine contender, and he’ll be on all of my tickets.

SATURDAY, NOV. 1

Race 5, Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint: #5 Bring Theband Home (12-1 morning line)

Bring Theband Home wins Troy Stakes (Eclipse Sportswire)

Do me a favor as you look in your PPs: Take a red pen and draw lines through Bring Theband Home’s two efforts at Woodbine over the past two seasons. Do that, and you’re left with a runner that’s done very, very little wrong.

Two and three starts back, he looked like a world-beater in a pair of impressive stakes scores at Saratoga. He stomped very solid fields in the Grade 2 Troy Stakes and the Harvey Pack Stakes, and he did so in very, very fast times. Yes, the clunker last time out in the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes Presented by Thgoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is tough to swallow, but he didn’t run well in that race a year ago, either. He may very well be the one Mark Casse-trained runner that doesn’t like Woodbine.

If Bring Theband Home is the same horse we saw this summer in upstate New York, he can absolutely win this race. He’s very, very fast, and if the last-out work at Belmont is any indication, he’s sitting on “go” here.

Race 9, Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic: #8 Mindframe (10-1 morning line)

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I understand some hesitation with regard to Mindframe in a loaded renewal of the Classic. However, there’s no way to think the trouble he experienced in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup was his fault, so how can we rationally hold that against him?

Draw a line through that race and go back to the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes. He looked like a world-beater that day when he cruised home over Sierra Leone in 1:47.48 for the nine-furlong distance. By all accounts, he’s training well leading up to his trip west, and Irad Ortiz Jr. (who was vaulted off of Mindframe last time out) sees fit to ride back.

Sovereignty obviously merits respect, and he’s far from a bad favorite. However, if Mindframe is anywhere close to his 10-1 morning-line price, that hits me as a mistake. His best is absolutely good enough to get the job done, and at those odds, I’d simply have to bet him.

Race 12, Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf: #4 Village Voice (15-1 morning line)

Village Voice wins Waya Stakes (Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand)

The Saturday finale is a juicy one, with several very sharp horses coming in from across the pond. However, my price play is one that made the trip earlier this season and seems to be coming to hand for powerhouse connections.

Village Voice hadn’t raced in nearly a year before running in the Grade 3 Waya Stakes at Aqueduct. She was well behind a pretty modest pace, but she rallied and got the job done in her U.S. debut when she had every right to be rusty. Furthermore, her two-back race saw her run fourth in the Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes against what was probably a better group than the one she faces here.

I’m expecting improvement second off the bench, and if she’s the runner she was in Europe in 2023 and 2024, she’s got a big shot. Add in the presence of new rider Flavien Prat for trainer Chad Brown, in a race with more speed signed on than what she had to work with last time, and she hits me as a very strong value proposition.