The weekend racing fans wait for all year long is almost here as the top horses in the country and many from around the world will travel to Del Mar for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. The action kicks off on Friday, Oct.
The $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic is North American Thoroughbred racing’s championship event. Often, the results of the Longines Classic are the determining factor in which racehorse is honored as Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards. In the 41 prior years of the Breeders’ Cup, 16 Classic winners have been voted Horse of the Year months later, including three in the past five years.
For the fourth year in a row more than 200 pre-entries have been accepted for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
Connections of top Thoroughbreds from around the globe have declared their intention to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar, with 207 pre-entries recorded this week for the international festival of racing. That number is down slightly from the 212 entered last year, also at Del Mar.
The story of Skip Away begins with Carolyn Hine, wife of late Hall of Fame trainer Sonny Hine, wishing for a white Thoroughbred.
Carolyn has diminished eyesight and wanted to be able to follow her horse beyond her blazing red and yellow silks. Sonny explained that white horses are extremely hard to find, but he attended a sale for 2-year-olds at Calder Race Course in Miami to see whether he might find a modestly priced gray horse that could run a bit.
