The $2 million Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint will be contested at six furlongs on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Del Mar, and the 2025 edition has attracted a high-powered full field, plus one also-eligible entrant. The Sprint will go as Race 6 on Saturday’s Del Mar 12-race Breeders’ Cup program. Who will prove to be the fastest of the fast? Here is a glance at the contenders for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

1. Kopion (7-2 morning-line odds): Fleet filly takes on the boys for the first time but won’t be a bargain on the tote board as one of the probable favorites in the race. She has also yet to race as short as this six-furlong distance in her nine-race career so far. Her best selling points are her high Beyer Speed Figures, which are among the best in the field, and she has run first or second in all four outings of 2025 so far in Grade 1 and Grade 2 stakes races. The only two horses that beat her this year, Seismic Beauty and Sweet Azteca, are the favorites in Saturday’s Longines Distaff and PNC Bank Filly and Mare Sprint, respectively, so obviously she has kept elite company and held her own. Mike Smith, the all-time winningest jockey in Breeders’ Cup history, picks up the mount. Much to like but also comes with some factors to be skeptical about.

JOCKEY: Mike Smith; TRAINER: Richard Mandella

2. Banishing (15-1): Remarkably versatile runner earned wins at six furlongs, 6 ½ furlongs, one mile, and 1 1/8 miles this year. He’s had success sprinting but seven of his 10 starts in 2025 were route races. Owns two sprint stakes wins this year with Beyer Speed Figures of 100 and 97 but both came against lesser competition. Changed barns since his last race and goes out for trainer Chad Summers for the first time with Tyler Gaffalione maintaining the mount.

JOCKEY: Tyler Gaffalione; TRAINER: Chad Summers

3. Lovesick Blues (10-1): Surprised just about everyone with his victory at 18-1 odds in this summer’s Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at this distance at Del Mar which secured him a “Win and You’re In” berth into this race. His other five races this season were turf sprints, but the Crosby victory was by far his standout career moment so far. Owning a track and distance Grade 1 win distinguishes him among many of the horses in this race, but the main question on everyone’s mind is if he can duplicate that win or if it was a fluke. There are a lot of questions, but the one thing that’s for certain is the competition in the Sprint will be tougher than the company he beat even on his best day.

JOCKEY: Geovanni Franco; TRAINER: Librado Barocio

Patriot Spirit wins Vosburgh. (Eclipse Sportswire)

4. Patriot Spirit (30-1): It’s hard to knock a horse coming into this race off two straight sprint stakes wins, including a victory in the Grade 3 Vosburgh Stakes Presented by Army Mule, but this horse nevertheless will need to run a lot faster than his recent Beyer Speed Figures of 88 and 90 in order to be competitive in this race. The trainer exuded confidence following the Vosburgh and indicated the horse will be even better at six furlongs, but even though the Vosburgh is one of the strongest traditional prep races for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, this year’s edition featured an unusually sub-par field.

JOCKEY: Javier Castellano; TRAINER: Mike Campbell

5. Big City Lights (20-1): Ran a dynamite winning effort in his only 2025 outing to date, but it came against California-bred company, and it happened nine months ago. Now he enters this race without a recent prep. Did face the likes of Dr. Venkman in Santa Anita’s Triple Bend Stakes in mid-2024 and was able to run within a length of that contender, but it’s difficult to have any confidence in a horse that’s been away from the races this long when he returns to action in a top-level spot like this.

JOCKEY: Kazushi Kimura; TRAINER: Richard Mandella

6. Dr. Venkman (15-1): He’s been hanging around the upper echelon of the national sprint division all season and he’s held his own with a win in Del Mar’s Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes and runner-up finishes in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes presented by Estrella Jalisco behind Imagination and earlier in the Grade 3 Triple Bend Stakes behind only Nysos. Connections flirted with stretching him out to routes late last year but when he concentrates on sprinting like he has this year, he has proven difficult to keep out of the exacta. The one thing he seems to lack so far is that one single standout triple-digit Beyer performance which makes you wonder if he’s capable of it.

JOCKEY: Umberto Rispoli; TRAINER: Mark Glatt

Imagination wins Santa Anita Sprint Championship (Eclipse Sportswire)

7. Imagination (6-1): Exits a win in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship over the likes of Dr. Venkman and defending Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Straight No Chaser. The Breeders’ Cup Sprint has been held at Del Mar on three prior occasions, and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship has been the key race in those years with 2017 winner Roy H coming back to win the Sprint, 2021 winner Dr Schivel coming back to run second in the Sprint, and 2024 winner Straight No Chaser winning the Sprint last year. Trainer Bob Baffert is the all-time winningest trainer in the history of this race with five wins.

JOCKEY: Juan Hernandez; TRAINER: Bob Baffert

8. Nakatomi (15-1): Diehard “Die Hard” fans of Nakatomi got something to cheer for last time when the 6-year-old gelding got back into the winner’s circle in a big way in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes, which is historically one of the top Breeders’ Cup Sprint prep races. Nakatomi’s other career highlights include a runner-up finish by a neck in this year’s $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen and a third-place finish in the 2023 running of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. In a 14-horse field loaded with world-class speed, Nakatomi will be biding his time near the rear of the field in the opening stages of the race and from there he will be pace-dependent on the leaders running out of steam while also hoping fortune smiles on him enough to get a clean trip though or around a crowded field. Yippee-ki-yay!

JOCKEY: Jose Ortiz; TRAINER: Wesley Ward

9. American Stage (30-1): Invades from Japan with three outings on his ledger this year, including a pair of races in Dubai earlier this season followed by a near-miss second-place finish in a 16-horse race in his lone Japan prep race. Faced Nakatomi in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen in April and finished sixth by 3 ½ lengths while 3 ¼ lengths behind Nakatomi. Owns front-end speed but will have plenty of company up front in the Sprint.

JOCKEY: Ryusei Sakai; TRAINER: Yoshito Yahagi

Last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up, Bentornato (Eclipse Sportswire)

10. Bentornato (5-2): Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up at Del Mar is back again this year looking to take the next step. Connections have opted for only one prep race this season, which Bentornato won big in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes in September at Churchill Downs. In three seasons so far in his career, this horse has only raced 10 times but when he sticks to sprints, he has been nearly unbeatable with six wins and two seconds in eight races. One of the losses came in this race last year a half a length behind Straight No Chaser, so in order to win he’ll need to start by turning the tables on the defending champ. It seems like he certainly could do it based on his impressive prep win and Straight No Chaser’s vulnerable campaign in 2025. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has won the Sprint three of the last five years and was not aboard this horse for last year’s defeat.

JOCKEY: Irad Ortiz Jr.; TRAINER: Jose D’Angelo

11. Mullikin (15-1): Mullikin enjoyed a superior season in 2024 and ran well in this race last year but fell three lengths short behind Straight No Chaser and Bentornato with a third-place finish. This year, however, has not been as kind to Mullikin and he is winless in four 2025 starts to date. Seems to do much of his best running in his career at Saratoga but enters this race off a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Forego Stakes on Aug. 23 and has not raced since. Ran his best career speed figure two races ago when second behind Book’em Danno at this six-furlong distance and needs a rebound to best form in order to have only an outside chance.

JOCKEY: Flavien Prat; TRAINER: Rodolphe Brisset

12. Straight No Chaser (8-1): Defending Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and Eclipse Award champion goes for number two and there is a precedent for back-to-back wins in this race since it has already been accomplished three times. Straight No Chaser got off to a great start this year with a win in the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint and was beginning to look unbeatable at that point until his air of invincibility was shattered by an eighth-place finish in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen. Last year, he came into this race off an impressive wire-to-wire win in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, and he used that same race as a prep again this time but without the same results, finishing third behind two of these same contenders. Which version of Straight No Chaser will we see on Saturday, the unbeatable monster that showed up last year or the disappointment we witnessed in his last two starts? Leaning toward the former but would not be surprised by the latter.

JOCKEY: John Velazquez; TRAINER: Dan Blacker

13. Mad House (30-1): Sprint steamroller from Canterbury Park won big in three races in a row in Minnesota and then took his show on the road to Parx Racing last time and won the Grade 2 Gallant Bob Stakes on the Pennsylvania Derby undercard. He’s a nice Cinderella story but the water is about to get a whole heckuva lot deeper in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Uses blazing speed to great impact in his victories so look for him to go for the lead at Del Mar and go as fast as he can as far as he can up front. If no one else “sends,” you never know.

JOCKEY: Luis Saez; TRAINER: David Van Winkle

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14. Whatchatalkinabout (30-1): The far outside of the starting gate may not be the best place to look for your Breeders’ Cup Sprint longshot unless you have a horse like Mad House with the speed to send and clear much of the field. This horse lacks that early speed, however, and seems to lack the necessary career credentials, with the exception of his Grade 3 win earlier this year at Belmont at the Big A. Lost to Nakatomi last time when third in Keeneland’s Phoenix Stakes. Hard to believe that trainer Wesley Ward, known for training blazing speedsters, has never won the Sprint.

JOCKEY: Emisael Jaramillo; TRAINER: Wesley Ward

AE-15. Valiant Force (30-1): Irish invader lands on the also-eligible list and needs at least one defection to get into the field. Enters this race off a nice win last time going five furlongs, but that race was on an all-weather surface and against way lesser company. He has never won on dirt or even ever raced on this surface before, and this is a tough spot to try and make a winning debut.

JOCKEY: David Egan; TRAINER: Adrian Murray

THE PICK: Bentornato

LIVE LONGSHOT: Mad House

SUPERFECTA: 10-12-7-13