Aidan O’Brien’s gallop towards an extension of his record for Group One wins in a season has slowed a little in recent weeks, but there was still a shield-beating sense of theatre about the scene as his team for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar this weekend made its way to the track for morning exercise on Wednesday.
Unlike 2024, when City Of Troy was being aimed at the Classic, there is no obvious headliner in the O’Brien lineup, but plenty of the horses trotting past in a well-ordered single file have banked at least one Group One already this season and four are expected to set off as favourite.
Minnie Hauk, the Arc runner-up and a three-time Group One winner over the summer, heads the market for the Turf on Saturday, while Gstaad (Juvenile Turf), Precise (Juvenile Fillies’ Turf) and True Love (Juvenile Turf Sprint) are also all likely favourites for the three turf events on Friday’s card for juveniles. Other runners from the yard at single-figure odds include The Lion In Winter (Mile) and Havana Anna (Juvenile Turf Sprint), and the Ballydoyle squadron is, as so often, at the heart of the European challenge at the meeting.
O’Brien needs a single success this weekend to take sole control of the record for Breeders’ Cup with 21, one more than the late D Wayne Lukas, who died in June.
It would be a remarkable achievement for an overseas trainer to sit ahead of such names as Lukas, Bob Baffert (19) and Chad Brown (19), but he is not the only European trainer with great expectations this weekend.
Francis-Henri Graffard, who has already won both the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this year, will attempt to complete the set of the world’s most prestigious mile-and-a-half turf events with three different horses when Goliath goes to post for the Turf. And in the same race, Charlie Appleby’s popular gelding Rebel’s Romance could become only the third horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race three times, and set a new record for earnings by a European-trained horse in the process.
Andrew Balding, meanwhile, is hoping to register a win at the meeting for the first time, and has three runners over the two days. Pacific Mission is an outsider for the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf on Friday, while Jonquil (Mile) and the 4-1 shot See The Fire, in the Filly & Mare Turf, will go to post on Saturday.
“I was here [at Del Mar] for a summer when I was 20,” Balding, who is now 54, said on Wednesday. “That’s the last time I was here and nothing seems to have changed.
“It’s an important event and always has been and I remember as a kid, the first years when it was new and really exciting.
“Dad [the trainer, Ian] took Selkirk out to Gulfstream Park and I can remember the buzz and everything about the place, and [the champion sprinter] Lochsong in the Sprint [for her final race in 1994].”
Both Pacific Mission and See The Fire have been drawn in unfavourable wide stalls this weekend, which will give their respective jockeys, Colin Keane and Oisin Murphy, plenty of thinking to do.
Stratford-On-Avon 12.47 Dickens 1.17 Followango 1.47 Brace For Landing 2.17 Quaviste 2.47 Range 3.17 Western Soldier 3.47 Faitique De L’Isle 4.17 Princess Of Ballea
Bath 12.55 Takeitorleaveit 1.25 Heroics 1.55 Platinum Prince 2.25 Rating 2.55 Marching Mac 3.25 Cameley Days 3.55 Roman Spring 4.25 Sub Thirteen
Newcastle 1.08 Cueros 1.38 Sir Carnegie 2.08 Fairly Fulling 2.38 Chasingouttheblues 3.08 Hostile Hotelier 3.38 Half Shot 4.08 Monte A Bord
Southwell 4.30 Big Shot Veto 5.00 Birdcall 5.30 Lightning Touch 6.00 Woodstock 6.30 Taranjerine 7.00 Covert Legend 7.30 Springbok 8.00 Imola 8.30 Spun To Gold
Chelmsford 4.45 Reader 5.15 Miss Ayala 5.45 Applesandpears 6.15 Aramis Grey (nap) 6.45 Flowstate 7.15 Juno Star (nb) 7.45 Must Believe 8.15 Wyld Bill
“From that draw, I’ll leave it to the jockeys,” Balding said. “See The Fire needs an end-to-end gallop to aim at and it will be interesting to see her over an extra furlong on Saturday, it might make a big difference. She’s very high class on her day, the only thing is, it’s the end of a long season.”
What had promised to be one of the best ever runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Classic lost one of its stars on Wednesday when Sovereignty, the Godolphin-owned Kentucky Derby winner and the probable favourite, was ruled out by Bill Mott, his trainer, as he is suffering from an infection.
Uttoxeter 12.25 La Conquiere 12.55 Heeztheboy 1.25 Just Golden 1.55 Maximum Offers 2.30 The Long Walk 3.05 Junker D’Allier 3.40 Tigers Moon 4.15 Plains Drifter
Newmarket 12.40 Opera Wave 1.10 Man Of Vision 1.40 Thunder Star 2.12 Spicy Marg (nap) 2.47 Castle Rock 3.22 Play Me 3.57 Hibernate
Wetherby 12.47 The Four Sixes 1.17 Blue Carpet 1.47 High Dancer 2.20 Ammes 2.55 Thistle Ask (nb) 3.30 Princess Milania 4.05 Duel Au Soleil
Southwell 4.10 Betelgeuse 4.45 Lady Milton 5.15 Caballo Grande 5.45 Lakers 6.15 Juno Star 6.45 Desert Spring 7.15 Al Arbeed 7.45 Tonal 8.15 Back From Dubai
Prior to Sovereignty’s scratching, the field for Saturday’s showpiece had been expected to include the first three home in this year’s Kentucky Derby as well as the first three from last year’s Classic. Sierra Leone and Fierceness, the 1-2 here 12 months ago, are now vying for favouritism at around 3-1, with Japan’s Forever Young, third in that race, at 6-1 and Journalism, the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, the first three-year-old in the betting at 7-1.
Runners from the O’Brien yard dominate the markets for the juvenile turf races and two short-priced favourites – Precise and Gstaad in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf and Juvenile Turf, respectively – provide Christophe Soumillon with gilt-edged chances to improve what is, on the face of it, a distinctly underwhelming record at the meeting.
Shirocco, in the Turf at Belmont Park in 2005, is Soumillon’s only Breeders’ Cup winner to date, and while it was very much a ride to post in the scrapbook – Soumillon dictated the race from second place behind a tearaway front-runner – it seems strange that such a talented and prolific big-race jockey has not added another.
Precise and Gstaad are priced up at around 11-10 and 6-5 respectively, so punters can be forgiven for asking whether one Breeders’ Cup winner in 20 years is a sufficiently bankable record on a tight, unforgiving track like Del Mar.
The reality, though, is that Soumillon has a career total of just 10 rides at the meeting, and he also suffered a wretched slice of luck in 2020 when he was ruled out at the last minute by a positive Covid test. He could only look on, presumably from self-isolation, as two of his booked rides came home in front.
Apprentice jockey Tommie Jakes has died, aged 19, the Injured Jockeys Fund and Professional Jockeys Association have announced.
Jakes rode 59 winners over the past three years on the Flat in Britain, including 19 in 2025. His most recent success came aboard George Boughey's Fouroneohfever at Catterick on October 18 and having ridden at Nottingham on Wednesday, he was due to have two booked rides at Chelmsford on Thursday evening.
A joint-statement from the IJF and PJA read: "It is with deep sadness that we report the death of licensed apprentice jockey Tommie Jakes, 19, who tragically died at home this morning near Newmarket.
"Tommie was a much-loved son and brother, and a popular member of George Boughey's racing team. His parents Jeremy and Tonie ask that their privacy is respected at this terrible time."
In a post on his X account, Boughey said: "We are heartbroken by the news that our apprentice jockey Tommie Jakes has passed away. Tommie has been an integral and much-loved member of our team. He was not only a hugely talented young rider with so much to look forward to, but an incredibly kind, popular and hard-working young man. We will miss him immensely."
In an alternative, Covid-free universe, Soumillon’s strike-rate might well be around 30%, so he is probably not a jockey with a Breeders’ Cup problem. After Monday’s post-position draw, however, he has a much more difficult hand to work with, as both Precise and Gstaad have ended up in the worst possible stall, on the wide outside of 13- and 14-runner fields respectively.
Precise has at least 9lb in hand of her field on Timeform ratings but that could count for little if, as seems likely, she has only a couple of rivals behind her at the first turn. At that point, her chance depends on luck rather than judg ment and at such short odds, it makes sense to look for an each-way alternative.
Queen Of Hawaii (11.05pm, all times GMT) has gone under the radar a little in the run-up to Friday’s race, but Joseph O’Brien, her trainer, has an impressive Breeders’ Cup record, with three winners in the last three years, and she has progressed by the race so far, presumably with this target in mind. She has the tactical speed to allow Dylan Browne McMonagle to exploit her draw in stall two and could outrun her price of around 14-1.
Soumillon may fare better aboard Gstaad (12.25am), who has a little more early speed than Precise, while the fastest pace of all on Friday could well be set by Wesley Ward’s Schwarzenegger (9.45pm) in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. He went through the first quarter in 21.47sec last time out and still clung on to the lead at the wire, so he may be able to overcome a wide draw in 11.
The remaining two races on the opening-day card are on the dirt, where Percy’s Bar (10.25pm) and Ted Noffey (11.45pm) should run big races in the Juvenile Fillies’ and Juvenile, respectively.
Percy’s Bar lost the Grade One Spinaway Stakes in the stewards’ room last time out after giving Tommy Jo a bump in the stretch, but Tommy Jo was having a hard time getting past her and Percy’s Bar looks a value price for the rematch.
Ted Noffey, meanwhile, has two Grade One wins in the book already by a combined margin of nearly 11 lengths and could well be the hottest favourite on the card.
