Checking in on the local horses expected to triumph at the Breeders’ Cup
The No. 1 and No. 2 favorites to win Halloween weekend’s Breeders’ Cup make plans for trek to SoCal from the Spa.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — The field is starting to shape up for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club — with the top two contenders putting in their final workouts here at the Oklahoma.
Favorited to win the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic main event? Sovereignty, who triumphed in Saratoga at the Belmont, Travers and Jim Dandy (plus the Kentucky Derby).
Whitney winner Sierra Leone is expected to give him a run for his money, after also clinching a win at the late-season Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Both horses are currently training at the Oklahoma but have finalized plans for their journeys to the west coast, according to a Sunday, October 12 report in Daily Racing Form. “Horse worked great, continues to train extremely well,” Sierra Leone’s trainer Chad Brown told the outlet, adding that the horse was expected to make the trek from the Spa to Cali on Oct. 26.
Sovereignty’s trainer, Bill Mott, told DRF that his star horse is expected to work out here one more time before his own travels to the west coast on Oct. 22 to complete his final workout at Del Mar.
Also expected to run Halloween weekend: Fierceness, Mindframe, Baeza and White Abarrio – who has his eye on the Grade 1 Dirt Mile.