Breeders’ Cup Saturday: Fields, posts, jockeys for 9 races

It came as no surprise that Sovereignty, already the top choice in futures markets, would be the morning-line favorite for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The same goes for two-time winner Rebel’s Romance in the $5 million Turf.

The two horses who will have center stage on the track Saturday at Del Mar were the stars of the Breeders’ Cup draw show Monday in the track paddock. Sovereignty got post 6 in the 10-horse lineup and morning-line odds of 6-5 for the Classic. Rebel’s Romance drew post 1 in the field of 14 for the Turf in which he is the 5-2 second choice behind 3-year-old filly Minnie Hauk at 8-5.

Breeders’ Cup Friday: Fields for 5 juvenile races.

Saturday’s nine races are listed in the order they will be run with each horse’s best Horse Racing Nation speed figure in parentheses.

Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, seven furlongs, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 3 p.m. EDT

Grade 1 winner Sweet Azteca will not have to deal with Kopion, who was aimed instead to a first date with the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Pam Ziebarth’s homebred 5-year-old by Sweet Azteca came back this summer from a nine-month break and a barn switch from Michael McCarthy to Richard Baltas. She responded by winning the Great Lady M (G2) and Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3).

Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, five furlongs, turf, 3-year-olds and up, 3:41 p.m. EDT

Ag Bullet, a back-to-back winner for Baltas in the Jaipur (G1) at Saratoga and the Ladies Turf Sprint (G2) at Kentucky Downs, meets Motorious, whose three-race winning streak for Phil D’Amato includes the Joe Hernández (G2), Daytona (G3) and Green Flash Handicap (G1).

Breeders’ Cup Sprint, six furlongs, 3-year-olds and up, 4:21 p.m. EDT

Eclipse Award winner Straight No Chaser is back for trainer Dan Blacker to try and regain his form and repeat. He will have it tough against the likes of last year’s runner-up Bentornato and Baffert’s Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2) winner Imagination. Oh, yes. Kopion is in with her two Grade 1 wins and a pair of graded-stakes seconds this summer.

Breeders’ Cup Distaff, 1 1/8 miles, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 5:01 p.m. EDT

Dorth Vader had bona fides in this division, and then she finished second in the Personal Ensign (G1). Then it was Nitrogen before her runner-up result in the Spinster (G1). Seismic Beauty might be atop the mountain right now. The 4-year-old Uncle Mo filly has won three in a row for Baffert, including the 1 1/16-mile Clement L. Hirsch (G1) at Del Mar.

Breeders’ Cup Turf, 1 1/2 miles, turf, 3-year-olds and up, 5:41 p.m. EDT

Rebel’s Romance can go where no horse has gone before by winning a third time in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. The 7-year-old gelding was victorious in 2022, skipped 2023 and returned in 2024 to win for trainer Charlie Appleby. Three-year-old filly Minnie Hauk, a strong second against the boys in the typically waterlogged Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1), poses a big threat for Coolmore and O’Brien.

Breeders’ Cup Classic, 1 1/4 miles, 3-year-olds and up, 6:25 p.m. EDT

Three-year-olds like Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers (G1) winner Sovereignty as well as Preakness and Haskell (G1) victor Journalism and Pennsylvania Derby (G1) winner Baeza have dominated the conversation the futures betting. Sierra Leone comes back in search of a repeat. Owner Mike Repole and Pletcher hopes the good Fierceness shows up. Saudi Cup (G1) winner Forever Young is the wild card from Japan, having finished third last year.

“There’s three top 3-year-olds in the race, arguably the best three that have been around all year taking on the first three finishers of the Breeders’ Cup from last year,” Sovereignty’s Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “It doesn’t get any better than that. You throw in a Japanese horse for good measure, and he’s a world-class traveler and a horse that really has to be admired. It’s going to be a great race.”

Mott said he had “no complaints” about Sovereignty’s draw.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who got Mindframe in post 8 and Antiquarian in 10, was more reserved about Fierceness drawing the rail, a spot he expressly said beforehand he did not want. That is because Fierceness bolted inward from there toward the temporary rail coming out of the 1 1/4-mile chute when he won the Pacific Classic (G1). He said he hoped jockey John Velázquez learned from that.

“The difference is now Johnny knows he made that mistake in the last start in the Pacific Classic here, so hopefully he’ll be ready in case he were to think about doing it again,” Pletcher said. “I think it was just the first time, and he did what a lot of horses do, kind of moved to open space. Fortunately he was able to overcome it.”

Breeders’ Cup Mile, one mile, turf, 3-year-olds and up, 7:05 p.m. EDT

Notable Speech tries to improve on a third-place finish in last year’s Mile. This time Godolphin’s 4-year-old Dubawi colt comes in with some North America cred, having won for Appleby on Sept. 13 in the Woodbine Mile (G1). Appleby has won the Breeders’ Cup Mile three of the last four years with three different horses.

Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, one mile, 3-year-olds and up, 7:45 p.m. EDT

After 15 months off, Nysos came back for Baffert to finish in a dead heat for second in the Churchill Downs (G1). Other than that, the 4-year-old Nyquist colt is a five-time winner with a July win at Del Mar in the San Diego Handicap (G2). A bruised hoof kept him out of the Pacific Classic (G1). White Abarrio, the 2023 Classic winner also is in the field as is Kentucky Derby 2024 winner Mystik Dan and, not insignificantly, defending Dirt Mile victor Full Serrano.

Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, 1 3/8 miles, turf, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 8:25 p.m. EDT

America offers She Feels Pretty, a 4-year-old filly who won for trainer Cherie DeVaux in the E. P. Taylor (G1) at Woodbine in August. Europe counters with Cinderella Dream, a three-time top-level winner who was second for Appleby in last year’s Filly & Mare Turf.