Three weeks after the conclusion of the 2025 Triple Crown, horse racing’s second half shifts into gear with a star-studded card at Churchill Downs June 28 headlined by the $1 million Stephen Foster Stakes.

While the first half of the horse racing calendar is all 3-year-olds all the time on the path to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve – followed in quick succession by the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – the second half of the year builds through the summer and fall leading into the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

The royal meeting at Ascot provided many highlights and four Win and You’re In automatic bids for the World Championships Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Del Mar, but make no mistake, the Stephen Foster card is what gets the Breeders’ Cup ball rolling stateside with six stakes races worth a combined $2.75 million.

Thorpedo Anna winning 2024 Kentucky Oaks. (Coady Media)

This year, even more than in years past, Stephen Foster day features a multitude of great storylines with the 2024 Longines Kentucky Oaks winner and reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna running four races before 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan. The main event, the Stephen Foster, features a rematch of the top two finishers from the 2024 Kentucky Derby (Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone); two of this year’s Derby starters will shift back to turf for the American Derby; and two of the best U.S. turf horses this century (Tepin and Wise Dan) have races named in their honor that drew terrific fields.

Going back through past Kentucky Derbys, the last time I could find that the top two finishers from the Kentucky Derby faced off again as 4-year-olds was all the way back in 1992. Strike the Gold and Best Pal, the top two from the 1991 Kentucky Derby, met as 4-year-olds in the Pimlico Special Stakes May 9, 1992 at Pimlico. Strike the Gold rallied from last to first to win by three-quarters of a length and halt a 12-race winless stretch that followed the Derby, with Best Pal fading to fourth as the 3-5 favorite. That was 33 years ago and I was about to graduate from high school. Wow!

The Stephen Foster card boasts a compelling slate of races for bettors and fans alike, so let’s take a closer look at some of the highlights:

Race 7, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Fleur de Lis Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, dirt,  3:52 p.m. ET

The 1 1/8-mile Fleur de Lis Stakes is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race that offers the winner an expenses-paid entry into the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff Nov. 1 at Del Mar. #3 Thorpedo Anna is the headliner in a five-horse field that also includes the top-two finishers from the Shawnee Stakes May 31 at Churchill Downs, #1 Royal Spa and #4 Gin Gin. Thorpedo Anna opened her year with back-to-back stakes wins at Oaklawn Park but finished a disappointing seventh in the Fasig-Tipton La Troienne Stakes on the Longines Kentucky Oaks undercard May 2. All eyes will be on last year’s Oaks and Distaff winner to see if she will regain her elite form.

Race 8, $250,000 Tepin Stakes, one mile, turf, 4:25 p.m. ET

Multiple stakes winner Vixen. (Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson)

Multiple stakes winner #6 Vixen leads a field of eight 3-year-old fillies entered for the one-mile Tepin Stakes, named for the 2022 Hall of Fame inductee who won the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile and 2016 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot among six Grade/Group 1 wins. Four of the eight fillies enter off of wins, while #5 Lush Lips comes into the race after back-to-back seconds to rising star Nitrogen.

Race 9, $250,000 Kelly’s Landing Stakes, 6 ½ furlongs, dirt, 4:58 p.m. ET

Dirt sprinters take center stage for the Kelly’s Landing Stakes with #3 Booth riding a four-race stakes winning streak into the race for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Don’t sleep on California shipper #1 Dr. Venkman, a blazing-fast graded stakes winner by Ghostzapper with one of the great names in the sport. You can be sure Dr. Venkman will have his proton pack targeting front-running Booth in the Churchill stretch. Somebody call Bill Murray …

Race 10, $500,000 Wise Dan Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, turf, 5:31 p.m. ET

This race honoring 2012 and 2013 Horse of the Year and fan favorite Wise Dan drew a field of nine led by the top four finishers of the Arlington Stakes May 31 at the same course and 1 1/16-mile distance: #4 Mercante, #7 Brilliant Berti, #2 Lagynos, and #6 Event Detail. That quartet was separated by 1 ¼ lengths at the Arlington Stakes finish line and also must face the late rush of #8 Fort Washington, winner of the Dinner Party Stakes by a length on the Preakness Stakes undercard, and talented Southern California invader #3 Mi Hermano Ramon.

Race 11, $1 million Stephen Foster Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, dirt, 6:03 p.m.

Mystik Dan winning Blame Stakes. (Coady Media)

It hasn’t happened in 33 years by my research that the Kentucky Derby top-two finishers faced off in a rematch as 4-year-olds, so there will be a little bit of history made Saturday night at Churchill should both #5 Mystik Dan and #4 Sierra Leone start as expected. But this “Win and You’re In” race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic race isn’t just last year’s Derby winner versus the runner-up (and subsequent champion 3-year-old male). The Stephen Foster also drew 2025 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline winner #6 Hit Show and recent Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford winner #2 Mindframe. It’s simply a terrific horse race. Read all about this year’s field in America’s Best Racing’s Stephen Foster Cheat Sheet.

Race 12, $250,000 American Derby, 1 1/16 miles, turf, 6:32 p.m. ET

The American Derby looks like one of the best handicapping puzzles on the Stephen Foster card with 10 3-year-olds entered, including Kentucky Derby runners #2 Flying Mohawk and #3 Tiztastic making the switch from dirt to turf, multiple Southern California stakes winner #8 Freedom’s Not Free shipping in, and three additional stakes winners in a deep field to close out the June 28 card at Churchill Downs. World Series champion Jayson Werth is a co-owner of Flying Mohawk, who has two wins on the grass. Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby winner Tiztastic also will return to turf, a surface on which he is 2-for-2 with a stakes win.