The road to the 2025 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic makes an important stop at Saratoga Race Course Labor Day weekend on Sunday, Aug. 31, as older male dirt horses go 1 ¼ miles in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes. The Grade 1 stakes will be a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” qualifier for this fall’s $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

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The Jockey Club Gold Cup will be held for the 107^th time in 2025 and is one of the Thoroughbred racing’s most long-lived and prestigious races. For decades before the creation of the Breeders’ Cup, the JCGC served as a de facto fall championship race in the handicap division. In the Breeders’ Cup era, the race has evolved into one of the key national prep races for the Classic. As such, the Jockey Club Gold Cup has been won by a roll call of legends through its illustrious past, including Man o’ War, Gallant Fox, War Admiral, Citation, Hill Prince, Nashua (twice), Sword Dancer, Kelso (five times), Buckpasser, Damascus, Arts and Letters, Shuvee (twice), Forego, Exceller, Affirmed, John Henry, Slew o’ Gold (twice), Easy Goer, Cigar, Skip Away (twice), Mineshaft, Funny Cide, and Curlin (twice), just to name a few. Last year’s winner was Highland Falls, who will be back to attempt to defend his title.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup was moved from its traditional home at Belmont Park to Saratoga in 2021. At Saratoga, the race is now a two-turn, 1 ¼-mile event. Prior to 1990 the race had been contested at 1 ½ miles. Before 1976 it had mainly been run at two miles.

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This 2025 renewal of the Jockey Club Gold Cup has drawn a competitive all-star field of horses pointing the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Several of the contenders are expected to advance. The race will be broadcast nationwide on FOX and has a scheduled post time of 1:45 p.m. ET.

Read on for information about the 2025 Jockey Club Gold Cup contenders.

Eclipse Sportswire

1. Disarm

Jockey: Joel Rosario

Trainer: Steve Asmussen

Owners: Winchell Thoroughbreds

Career record: 17 starts – 4 wins – 3 seconds – 4 thirds

Career earnings: $1,559,165

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 107

Pedigree: Gun Runner – Easy Tap, by Tapit

Age: 5

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Closer

Analysis: Disarm is a professional, stakes-level veteran 5-year-old whose best achievements place him a rung below the top contenders in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He is a stone closer that never threatened last time out in the Whitney Stakes but was able to arrive on the scene in late stretch to secure a third-place finish behind Sierra Leone, beaten three lengths. Disarm finished fourth and third, respectively, at Saratoga in last year’s Whitney Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup, and that type of also-ran performance seems to be his ceiling against this caliber of competition. Thereby, he optimistically could be worthy of including in the rear regions of trifecta or superfecta bets if the pace of this race melts down and sets-up his grinding late move, but even that might be a lot to ask here in this exceptionally tough spot. Jockey Joel Rosario won this race in 2014 aboard Tonalist, and trainer Steve Asmussen is a four-time winner of this race including, most notably, back-to-back wins in 2007-08 with Curlin.

Bet Disarm in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

2. Highland Falls

Jockey: Luis Saez

Trainer: Brad Cox

Owners: Godolphin

Career record: 12 starts – 6 wins – 3 seconds – 1 third

Career earnings: $1,512,660

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 113

Pedigree: Curlin – Round Pond, by Awesome Again

Age: 5

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Stalker

Analysis: Highland Falls showed up with a career-best effort in last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup, which he won by four lengths with a 113 Equibase Speed Figure. He had been away from racing for nearly eight months following a disappointing ninth-place finish in the 2024 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, but the Godolphin homebred was able to shake off the rust and kick off his 5-year-old campaign on June 27 with an easy one-mile allowance optional claiming win by 5 ½ lengths at Belmont at the Big A. Highland Falls then was solid in defeat last time when he finished a promising second in the Whitney Stakes behind Sierra Leone by only a length, and further improvement could be imminent if he continues to cycle into his best form. This stalker has the ability to stay closer to the pace when he needs to and was able to utilize that tactical speed to his advantage when he won this race last year.

Bet Highland Falls in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Susie Raisher/NYRA

3. Sierra Leone

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owners: Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook Smith

Career record: 12 starts – 5 wins – 4 seconds – 3 thirds

Career earnings: $6,806,200

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 117

Pedigree: Gun Runner – Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon

Age: 4

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Closer

Analysis: The 2024 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic champion returned to his best form last time out with a victory in the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga where he beat Highland Falls by a length. The Whitney win got Sierra Leone off the schneid at the Spa where his record previously had been 0-for-3. In order to repeat in the JCGC he will need to turn the tables on Mindframe, who beat him two races ago on June 28 when the pair met in the Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs. Sierra Leone is a closer that typically needs a fast pace to help set up his stretch kick. Logically this longer distance in the JCGC should help his late run even more than in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney, but that may not be the case as the 1 ¼-mile distance generally has not been favorable to closers at Saratoga in stats going back 25 years on the main track. Contrary Thinking, owned by Peter Brant, served as Sierra Leone’s pace “rabbit” in the Whitney (a horse entered to ensure a swift pace that should benefit a stablemate) and again will fill that role in this race. Look for Sierra Leone to be making up ground in the stretch into a position to secure no worse than a top-three finish, where he’s ended up in all 12 of his career races. Jockey Flavien Prat, who won this race last year aboard Highland Falls, will keep his regular mount aboard Sierra Leone. Trainer Chad Brown has won just about every other top-level race on the New York circuit but will be seeking his first career win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Bet Sierra Leone in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Eclipse Sportswire

4. Mindframe

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owners: Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable

Career record: 7 starts – 5 wins – 2 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $1,844,580

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 118

Pedigree: Constitution – Walk of Stars, by Street Sense

Age: 4

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Stalker

Analysis: The Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes winner will be one of the favorites and horses to beat in the Jockey Club Gold Cup based on his undefeated 3-for-3 campaign this year that also includes wins in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes Presented by Domestic Product and the $1 million, Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford where he defeated a trio of major next-out stakes winners – Banishing, Nysos, and Book’em Danno. After beating Sierra Leone in the Stephen Foster with a 118 Equibase Speed figure, Mindframe stayed out of Saratoga’s Whitney Stakes in order to avoid going up against his Mike Repole stablemate Fierceness, and he instead has been pointed to this race for the last two months. Mindframe has raced just once at Saratoga so far in his career when he finished a solid second ahead of Sierra Leone in the 2024 Belmont Stakes, beaten by Dornoch in what was also his only race to date at this 1 ¼-mile distance. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is a two-time winner of the JCGC, as is trainer Todd Pletcher whose most recent win came in 2023 with Bright Future for these same ownership connections.

Bet Mindframe in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Lauren King/Coglianese Photo

5. White Abarrio

Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.

Trainer: Saffie Joseph Jr.

Owners: C Two Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable

Career record: 22 starts – 10 wins – 2 seconds – 3 thirds

Career earnings: $7,091,920

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 122

Pedigree: Race Day – Catching Diamonds, by Into Mischief

Age: 6

Color: Gray or roan

Running style: Stalker

Analysis: White Abarrio is always a looming threat at the highest levels based on his career-best efforts such as when he won the 2023 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (for a different trainer) and more recently when he won this January’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. He’s still dangerous for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., but on the down side, he enters this race coming off back-to-back subpar efforts when fourth in both the Grade 1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap and the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes. He lost the Whitney to three of the rivals he’ll face Sunday, so he’ll be in need a major positive turnaround. Longtime regular jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is committed to ride Mindframe, so Ricardo Santana Jr., who won the JCGC in 2021, is slated to pick up the mount.

Bet White Abarrio in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

6. Contrary Thinking

Jockey: Dylan Davis

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owner: Peter Brant

Career record: 6 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $110,040

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 95

Pedigree: Into Mischief – Valadorna, by Curlin

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Speed

Analysis: This gelding served as Sierra Leone’s pace “rabbit” in the Whitney Stakes, rushing up to the front and ensuring a good setup for his late-running stablemate until he emptied out back to last. An allowance winner in June at Belmont at the Big A, Contrary Thinking no doubt will be meant to fill the same rabbit role again in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Bet Contrary Thinking in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

7. Phileas Fogg

Jockey: Kendrick Carmouche

Trainer: Gustavo Rodriguez

Owner: Jupiter Stable

Career record: 18 starts – 9 wins – 4 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $736,773

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 111

Pedigree: Astern – Merino, by More Than Ready

Age: 5

Color: Bay

Running style: Speed

Analysis: This gelding has won nine career races and has finished in the exacta in 13 of 19 lifetime starts. He successfully made the move up into stakes company in his breakthrough in the $150,000 Queen County stakes last December at Aqueduct which he won by eight lengths. Since then, he’s finished a close second in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special Stakes and added victories in the 1 ¼-mile Excelsior Stakes and the 1 ¼-mile Grade 2 Suburban Stakes Presented by Subourbon, which he won at this track and distance last time by a head over Antiquarian. Phileas Fogg has been making a living by racing on or close to the pace in distance dirt races and bottoming-out fields of horses that can’t keep up with him. The water is about to get a whole lot deeper here, however, with the likes of Mindframe, Sierra Leone, and Highland Falls giving chase. His best chance in the JCGC will be to get to the lead, hope to be able to control the pace, get brave, and beat the late runners to the finish. That kind of scenario is possible, but not probable.

Bet Phileas Fogg in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Eclipse Sportswire

8. Antiquarian

Jockey: John Velazquez

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owner: Centennial Farms

Career record: 8 starts – 3 wins – 3 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $394,100

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 111

Pedigree: Preservationist – Lifetime Memory, by Istan

Age: 4

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Press the pace/stalker

Analysis: Antiquarian finished fifth in his only foray to date at the Grade 1 level, which came in the 2024 Belmont Stakes. That race ended up being the final start of his 3-year-old season but he has since returned from nearly a year layoff to start a promising 4-year-old campaign with a win and two stakes placings in three outings so far this year. He chased Phileas Fogg last time at this track and distance in the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes Presented by Subourbon and made a late bid but never got past that rival to settle for a neck defeat in second. Antiquarian has a pace pressing, up-close stalking running style similar to that of some other more accomplished rivals in this race including Mindframe and White Abarrio, and it may be a tough task for him to beat horses like that at their own game while also getting past Phileas Fogg and holding off closing Sierra Leone. Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Jockey Club Gold Cup twice including with Bright Future two years ago. Jockey John Velazquez has won the JCGC three times, most recently via disqualification aboard Code of Honor in 2019.

Bet Antiquarian in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Eclipse Sportswire

9. Banishing

Jockey: Jose Lezcano

Trainer: David Jacobson

Owners: Lawrence P. Roman and David Jacobson

Career record: 23 starts – 9 wins – 5 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $1,890,709

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 116

Pedigree: Ghostzapper – Dowager, by A. P. Indy

Age: 5

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Stalker

Analysis: Banishing enters the Jockey Club Gold Cup with just over a week between starts as he won the $1 million Charles Town Classic Stakes Aug. 22 against a Grade 2 field that came up rather soft. Banishing will be making his 10^th start of 2025 in this race and has four wins this calendar year with another graded stakes win coming back in March in the $500,000, Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile Stakes. The gelding has demonstrated pace versatility throughout his career and came from behind to win at Charles Town, but he also has won from on or close to the lead. He’s also versatile from a distance perspective with wins ranging from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. Banishing is a neat racehorse that can do a lot of things well; however, the one thing he’s yet to display is the ability to beat horses of the caliber of the ones he’ll face in the JCGC. He’ll need a career-best effort.

Bet Banishing in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.