The final round of prep races for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup is behind us and the fields for the 14 World Championship races have come into focus. For fans and bettors, there is nothing quite like this two-day Thoroughbred racing extravaganza.

This year’s event will be Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Del Mar. As always, it’s headlined by the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, a 1 ¼-mile race that goes a long way toward determining the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year. It’s not hyperbole to say that this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic field could be among the strongest in the history of the race. The depth and quality of the older male and 3-year-old male divisions is superb, so let’s take an early look at the prospective field by tiers (horses listed alphabetically).

1) Crowded at the Top Tier

Fierceness, Sierra Leone, Sovereignty

Fierceness wins the Pacific Classic. (BENOIT photo)

Sovereignty totes a four-race winning streak into the classic for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and should be plenty rested with 10 weeks between his 10-length victory in the DraftKings Travers Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The bay Into Mischief colt has been so good and so consistent in six starts this year and he’s maintained his impeccable form coming out of a Triple Crown in which he dominated the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve by 1 ½ lengths and the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets by three lengths. Sovereignty will tackle older males for the first time, but it’s hard to imagine he won’t be the favorite with a perfect 3-for-3 record at the Classic’s 1 ¼-mile distance. Sierra Leone and Fierceness, the top-two finishers in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar, also look like prime win contenders. Fierceness most recently blasted Preakness Stakes winner Journalism by 3 ¼ lengths in the $1 million Pacific Classic Stakes going 1 ¼ miles at Del Mar. Sierra Leone continues to do what Sierra Leone does, rallying powerfully from off the pace to finish in the top three in all four 2025 starts. He ran the race of his life last fall at Del Mar and figures to get another fast pace to set up his rally. 

2) These Guys are Really Good, Too, Tier

Baeza, Forever Young, Journalism, Mindframe

Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza. (Nikki Sherman/EQUI-PHOTO)

There are plenty of years this century when any of these four might vie for favoritism in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which is what makes this year’s race so compelling. A strong argument could easily be made to include Mindframe in the first tier. He won his first three starts of the year, including back-to-back Grade 1 wins in the Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford and Stephen Foster Stakes, before jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was unseated early in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 31 in Mindframe’s first try at 1 ¼ miles. He vanquished Book’em Danno sprinting in the Churchill Downs Stakes and beat Sierra Leone by a length in the Stephen Foster, but he never got a real chance at 1 ¼ miles in the Jockey Club Gold Cup so distance remains a question. The last race Mindframe completed with a jockey in the saddle was the June 28 Stephen Foster, so he’s essentially trying 1 ¼ miles for the first time off a 4 ½-month layoff. Preakness Stakes winner Journalism and Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza have spent ample time this season staring at Sovereignty’s backside – Journalism was second to him in the Derby and Belmont Stakes while Baeza was third in those two races and second to Sovereignty in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun. I’ve been a big Journalism backer all year, but Baeza enters the Breeders’ Cup Classic off a 2 ½-length win in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby while Journalism was no match for Fierceness in the Pacific Classic. Baeza looks like the better bet. Japan’s Forever Young was third behind Sierra Leone and Fierceness in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and an unlucky third in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. He won the $20 million Saudi Cup in February and returned from a layoff of roughly six months with a facile win in the Nippon TV Hai Oct. 1 against a group of overmatched rivals. Forever Young has won nine of 12 career starts, never finished outside the top three, and proved capable of shipping to the U.S. and running big. This is an exceptional second tier.

3) Live Longshots Tier

Antiquarian, Locked, Nevada Beach

Antiquarian takes the JCGC. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)

Antiquarian defeated Sierra Leone by 1 ½ lengths in the 1 ¼-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup Aug. 31 and has two wins and two seconds in four starts this year. It’s the type of consistency you like to see in a Breeders’ Cup Classic contender and the speed figures for the Jockey Club Gold Cup (113 Equibase, 108 Beyer) indicate he could be a real threat with nine weeks of rest. Nevada Beach completed his final three-eighths of a mile in :36.74 after pressing the pace in a breakout win against older males in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes Sept. 27 at Santa Anita Park. He’s a rising star 3-year-old for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert with plenty of room for improvement in what will be just his fifth career start, but that lack of experience cuts both ways … especially against a group of horses of this quality with no shortage of speed in the race. Locked followed a runner-up finish in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes with an 8 ½-length runaway in the Santa Anita Handicap presented by Yaamava’ Resort & Casino. He went off form a bit when well beaten in his next two starts but enters the Breeders’ Cup Classic off a three-quarter-length win in the Grade 2 Woodward Stakes Sept. 27 at Belmont at the Big A. This trio warrants consideration for exacta and trifecta tickets. Antiquarian stands out as the best of the bunch.

4) It Would Be a Surprise Tier

Highland Falls, Hit Show

How good is the field for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic? The winner of the $12 million Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline April 5, Hit Show, will very likely be 25-1 odds or higher. In addition to the Dubai World Cup, Hit Show owns five graded stakes wins in the U.S., but he’ll be hard-pressed to compete with this group unless he vastly improved upon a distant fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Lukas Classic Stakes Sept. 27. Highland Falls has placed in a pair of Grade 1s in two starts this year, but he was in better form a year ago when he ran ninth at 17.90-1 odds in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.