The day racing fans and horseplayers wait for all year for is almost here. The Breeders’ Cup Saturday program will feature the international equine and human stars of horseracing squaring off in nine championship races on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The event will be headlined by the richest horse race in North America, the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Television coverage on NBC will feature 3 ½ hours of live programming from 3:30-7 p.m. ET/12:30-4 p.m. PT featuring five Breeders’ Cup races ending with the Breeders’ Cup Classic. FanDuel TV and Peacock will provide coverage of the entire Saturday program from Del Mar. USA Network will televise live from 2-3:30 p.m. ET/11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PT covering one undercard race and the first Breeders’ Cup race. USA coverage then returns to the air from 7-8 p.m. ET/ 4-5 p.m. PT for the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Dirt Mile.

Here are some of the details you need to know about Saturday’s nine Breeders’ Cup championship races.

PNC BANK BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY & MARE SPRINT

Tamara (BENOIT photo)

Distance: Seven furlongs on dirt

Post time: 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 4, All-Dirt Pick 4

Background: The Filly & Mare Sprint debuted in 2007 when the Breeders’ Cup expanded past eight races. In 18 prior runnings, no horse has ever won the race wire-to-wire. This seemingly unusual off-the-pace bias was on full display last year when Soul of an Angel used a last-to-first rally to win for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

Favorites: California-based connections seem to have this year’s Filly & Mare Sprint surrounded, plus they will have home field advantage in their favor. Richard Mandella trains both Kopion, who won Churchill Downs’ seven-furlong Grade 1 Derby City Distaff Stakes Presented by Kendall-Jackwon Winery and owns giant speed figures in three of her last four starts, and Tamara, a former Grade 1 winner who enters off a victory in Santa Anita Park’s Grade 3 Chillngworth Stakes. Bob Baffert trains Saratoga’s Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes winner Hope Road, and Richi who was runner up in Santa Anita’s Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes. Richard Baltas trains Sweet Azteca, who is 2-for-2 this year with a win in Del Mar’s Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap.

Interesting Storylines: The horse in this race ridden by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is often the horse to beat. Irad has won four of the last eight editions of the Filly & Mare Sprint with victories in 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023.

PREVAGEN BREEDERS’ CUP TURF SPRINT

Arizona Blaze (Eclipse Sportswire)

Distance: Five furlongs on turf

Post time: 3:41 p.m. ET (12:41 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 5, All-turf Pick 4

Background: The first nine runnings of this race since started in 2008 were mostly contested at 6 ½ furlongs until the race morphed into a 5 or 5 ½-furlong dash the last eight years. At Del Mar, it is always run at the distance of five furlongs. Southern California-based trainers once ruled this race, but no SoCal stable has won it since Peter Miller-trained Belvoir Bay in 2019. Last year’s winner was European invader Starlust who paid $69.20 to win.

Favorites: Last year’s edition of the Turf Sprint ended in a three-horse photo finish with Starlust taking the top prize. Both of the other two horses in the photo, runner-up Motorious and third-place finisher Ag Bullet, will return to try again this year and those two are projected to vie for favoritism. Arizona Blaze, who was second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, enters this race in good form off a Group 1 win in Ireland last time out.

Interesting Storylines: The 5-year-old mare Ag Bullet, who already beat the boys this year in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes, is one of three females pre-entered in the main field for the 2025 Turf Sprint along with European invader She’s Quality and Shisospicy, who has won all four of her American turf sprints in 2025 including three stakes. Japanese filly Puro Magic is first on the also eligible list. Another notable on the list of also-eligibles is 2023 Turf Sprint victor Nobals.

CYGAMES BREEDERS’ CUP SPRINT

Bentornato (Coady Media)

Distance: Six furlongs on dirt

Post time: 4:21 p.m. ET (1:21 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 4

Background: The Sprint is an “original seven” Breeders Cup race that always has been held at its current six-furlong distance. In three prior editions of the Sprint run at Del Mar, the winners were Roy H in 2017, Aloha West in 2021, and Straight No Chaser in 2024. Aloha West was exiting a second-place finish in his final prep in the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland while Straight No Chaser and Roy H were both based in SoCal and exited wins in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes Presented by Estrella Jalisco.

Favorites: The 2025 Sprint features a rematch of the 2024 Sprint first- and second-place finishers Straight No Chaser and Bentornato, who were separated by just a half a length. Both horses have had light campaigns this season with Straight No Chaser racing three times and Bentornato winning in his only outing since last year’s Sprint. The Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship has become something of a key prep race for Breeders’ Cup Sprints held at Del Mar and that bodes well for the chances of this year’s winner, the Bob Baffert-trained Imagination.

Interesting Storylines: Straight no Chaser attempts to become the fourth repeat winner of the Sprint, following in the footsteps of Elite Power in 2022-23, Roy H in 2017-18, and Midnight Lute in 2007-08. Viewers and handicappers that tune in to the Sprint for a display of pure speed may be disappointed because unlike in the 2010s, the Sprint in the decade of the 2020s has not played that way. Elite Power won the 2022 and 2023 Sprints with late rallies from the rear half of the field, Whitmore came from seven lengths behind in 2020, Aloha West broke slowly and closed to win in 2021, and even Straight No Chaser failed to make the early lead in 2024.

LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF

Seismic Beauty (BENOIT photo)

Distance: 1 1/8 miles on dirt

Post time: 5:01 p.m. ET (2:01 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 4, pick 6, Distaff-Classic Daily Double

Background: The Distaff is one of the original Breeders’ Cup races run every year since 1984, but for a brief time it was referred to as the Ladies Classic and was even run on Friday late in the decade of the 2000s. This race has been won by some of the greatest fillies and mares in recent history including champions like Monomoy Girl, Beholder, Zenyatta, Ashado, Paseana, Bayakoa, Personal Ensign, Lady’s Secret, and many more. Last year’s winner, 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, will be the next to be honored with a plaque in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs.

Favorites: The favorite in the 2025 Distaff will be Bob Baffert-trained Seismic Beauty, who has enjoyed an Earth-shaking rise to potential stardom this season with three straight wins in California beginning with an allowance optional claiming win followed by a pair of graded stakes wins including Del Mar’s Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes Presented by Oak Tree Racing Association. All of her wins have been in gate-to-wire fashion. Seismic Beauty’s biggest challenges could come from any number of contenders including the 1-2 finishers in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes, Gin Gin and Nitrogen (earlier winner of the Alabama Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales at Saratoga), or from the dangerous Dorth Vader, who battled to within a nose of Thorpedo Anna this summer in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes.

Interesting Storylines: Superstar Thorpedo Anna scared away most of last year’s would-be challengers and topped a field of only seven horses. With no clear standout in the field this year, however, the race attracted 14 pre-entries. Through its history, the Distaff has featured many memorable 3-year-old versus older headline matchups, but with the notable exception of Thorpedo Anna in 2024, it is the older fillies and mares that often prevail. A 3-year-old filly has won the race only five times in the last 20 years.

LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP TURF

Rebel's Romance (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)

Distance: 1 ½ miles on turf

Post time: 5:41 p.m. ET (2:41 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 5

Background: The $5 million grass feature of the Breeders’ Cup card always attracts an international field of turf aces, and this year will be no exception with more than half of the pre-entered horses hailing from overseas. Only three American-based horses have won the Turf since 2007: Little Mike in 2012, Main Sequence in 2014, and Bricks and Mortar in 2019. Trainer Aidan O’Brien ended a six-year drought in this race when he won with Auguste Rodin in 2023, giving him seven career wins in the Turf. He also has placed six times and showed five times.

Favorites: The remarkable Rebel’s Romance will attempt to repeat his victories from 2024 and 2022 and became the first-ever three-time winner of this race. He has already won five times this year in four different countries including his stateside victory in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes in New York last out. As improbable as it might seem, however, Rebel’s Romance may not even be the favorite in the 2025 Turf. That’s because trainer Aidan O’Brien has pre-entered Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Minnie Hauk, a 3-year-old filly dynamo sired by Frankel and owned by Coolmore who won three straight Group 1 races this summer before losing the Arc by a head.

Interesting Storylines: O’Brien will attempt to be the first trainer to win a Breeders’ Cup race eight times, but lately it is trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin that have challenged O’Brien’s and Coolmore’s dominance with three wins in the Turf the past four years. Appleby will have two entrants this year including Rebel’s Romance. Long ago, European horsemen mainly used to dislike Breeders’ Cups in California due to the heat and the Pacific time zone, but more recently they have become enamored with Del Mar due to its cooler seaside fall temperatures. Euro horses have won every prior Breeders’ Cup Turf run at Del Mar in 2017, 2021, and 2024.

LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC

Sovereignty (Eclipse Sportswire)

Distance: 1 ¼ miles on dirt

Post time: 6:25 p.m. ET (3:25 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3, pick 4

Background: The Classic is the showcase race of the day and serves as the season-ending championship race in North American racing. With a purse of $7 million, the Classic is one of the world’s richest races and has the highest purse of any race run in North America. The world’s best dirt horses compete in the Classic’s classic distance of 1 ¼ miles in a race that impacts the Eclipse Awards in the older male, 3-year-old, and Horse of the Year divisions. A who’s who of American greats from the past 40 years have won this race including Flightline (2022), Gun Runner (2017), American Pharoah (2015), Zenyatta (2009), Curlin (2007), Tiznow (2000-01), Cigar (1995), and Sunday Silence (1989) just to name a few.

Favorites: The 2025 Classic shapes up to be one of the great editions of the race in its storied history, not because of the star power of one individual horse but for the sheer number of star horses and potential star horses that will comprise the field. The favorite will probably be Sovereignty, the winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve and the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets as well as Saratoga’s DraftKings Travers Stakes and Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun. It’s not all about Sovereignty, however, because the Classic will feature the winners of so many of the year’s top races including Sierra Leone, last year’s Classic winner who won the 2025 Whitney Stakes; Fierceness, who won Del Mar’s Pacific Classic Stakes; Mindframe, who won the Stephen Foster Stakes; and Antiquarian who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes, plus 3-year-olds Journalism who won the Preakness Stakes; Baeza who won the Pennsylvania Derby; and Nevada Beach who won Santa Anita Park’s Goodwood Stakes.

Interesting Storylines: Sierra Leone will attempt to become only the second repeat winner in the history of the Classic (Tiznow, 2000-01). All three of last year’s top finishers will be back for this 2025 rematch including 2024 runner-up Fierceness and third-place finisher Forever Young. While foreign horses have, indeed, won this race in the past, and Japanese horses have won other Breeders’ Cup races, Forever Young will attempt to become the first Japanese-based horse ever to win the Classic.

FANDUEL BREEDERS’ CUP MILE PRESENTED BY PDJF

Notable Speech (Michael Burns/Woodbine)

Distance: 1 mile on turf

Post time: 7:05 p.m. ET (4:05 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, double, pick 3

Background: As one of the original seven Breeders’ Cup events and with a $2 million purse, the Mile is guaranteed to draw an international all-star field. Throughout its history, North American horses have won the Mile 22 times including last year’s winner More Than Looks trained by Cherie DeVaux. Recently, however, European connections have had the edge with five of the last seven winners, thanks in large part to trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin winning three years in a row with Master of the Seas in 2023, Modern Games in 2022, and Space Blues in 2021.

Favorites: Charlie Appleby and Godolphin went for their fourth straight Mile win in 2024 but fell short in third place with Notable Speech. This year, Notable Speech is back and looking for revenge. What’s different? This time he comes in with winning North American prep race in his back pocket in the Grade 1 Rogers Woodbine Mile Stakes. That should be enough to earn him favoritism for the second straight year. The other horse in the field who may deserve to be favored, but won’t be, is the Mike McCarthy-trained Del Mar horse-for-the-course Formidable Man, who owns a perfect 6-for-6 record “where the turf meets the surf” including back-to-back wins this summer in the Eddie Read Stakes and the Del Mar Mile Stakes.

Interesting Storylines: Few things are guaranteed other than death and taxes, especially when it comes to horse racing and gambling, but one thing you can almost always count on is that the front runner or any horse involved in the early pace almost never wins the Breeders’ Cup Mile. With the exception of Hall-of-Famer Lure in 1992-93, no other pacesetter has ever won the Mile down through its long history (pace-pressing Tepin came the closest in 2015 and Kip Deville in 2007 and Goldikova in 2008 raced closer to the pace than most winners). The overwhelming majority of Mile winners have been stalkers or closers like last year’s winner More Than Looks who came from dead last. In the last 16 runnings since 2009, no winner except Tepin was within three lengths of the lead at the first call.

BREEDERS’ CUP DIRT MILE

Mystik Dan (Coady Media)

Distance: 1 mile on dirt

Post time: 7:45 p.m. ET (4:45 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5, daily double

Background: This race was first held at the 2007 Breeders’ Cup, but the Dirt Mile didn’t really start to gain in stature until the 2020s to truly become one of the headline events of the Breeders’ Cup program. Recent marquee winners have included Knicks Go in 2020, Life Is Good in 2021, and fan favorite Cody’s Wish in 2022 and 2023. This year’s edition of the Dirt Mile looks like one of the best fields ever assembled in the race’s history.

Favorites: Defending Dirt Mile champ Full Serrano is back to defend his title against a loaded field. In order to repeat, he will need to defeat a lineup that includes resurgent 2024 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner Mystik Dan who exits a win in Churchill Downs’ Grade 2 Lukas Classic Stakes, 2023 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio, who won the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes early this season, and trainer Bob Baffert’s power-packed three-pronged attack of Nysos, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Citizen Bull, and Goal Oriented, who flashed speedy ability against top 3-year-olds.

Interesting Storylines: Nysos has shown the potential for greatness as a middle-distance horse but has been sidelined at some key points in his career so far. He won his first three lifetime races by a combined 26 ¾ lengths before an ankle chip caused him to miss more than a year between February 2024 and May 2025. More recently, he was the morning-line favorite in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 30 but was scratched the morning of the race with a bruised hoof. Nysos has won five of his six career races, but can he be ready for his best effort without the benefit of a final prep race for the Dirt Mile? His most recent race came way back on July 26 when he won Del Mar’s San Diego Handicap. Despite the doubts, Nysos will be a difficult horse to ignore if you are betting the race.

MAKER’S MARK BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY & MARE TURF

She Feels Pretty (Michael Burns/Woodbine)

Distance: 1 3/8 miles on turf

Post time: 8:25 p.m. ET (5:25 local time)

Wagering Menu: Win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, super hi-5

Background: First held in 1999, the Filly & Mare Turf marked the Breeders’ Cup’s first expansion from its original seven-race program. For more than a decade, this race has been dominated by two groups of horses: 1) overseas invaders, which have won seven of the last nine editions; or 2) horses trained by Chad Brown, which have won the race four of the last 13 years. Last year, Canadian champion Moira halted a streak of five consecutive foreign-based runners winning the Filly & Mare Turf.

Favorites: She Feels Pretty will lead the North American contingent and may be favored based on her three wins in four outings this season including two Grade 1 wins. In order to get this win, however, She Feels Pretty will have to beat a murderer’s row of European challengers including Gezora, who won France’s Group 1 Prix de Diane Longines, and See the Fire, who just missed last time in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera Longines, also held in France. Of course, the chances of every other horse in the field will take a drastic hit if multiple Group 1 winning 3-year-old filly monster Minnie Hauk enters the Filly & Mare Turf, but her first preference on Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday appears to be the $5 million Longines Turf.

Interesting Storylines: Chad Brown is the most prominent trainer in the female turf division domestically and has won this race a record four times (but not since 2018 with Sistercharlie). Brown will attempt to break his dry spell with his lone entrant in this year’s field, Village Voice, a 5-year-old mare who came to his barn this season and won her only start so far of 2025 in Saratoga’s Grade 3 Waya Stakes at this race’s 1 3/8-mile distance. Trainer Charlie Appleby won this race once way back in 2017 with Wuheida, but he finished second and fourth last year with Cinderella’s Dream and Beautiful Love and he will have two major contenders again this year as Cinderella’s Dream returns plus new shooter Diamond Rain, who just missed by a head last time behind She Feels Pretty in her North American debut in Woodbine’s Grade 1 E. P. Taylor Stakes.