Every sport has a definitive year-ending event to crown its champions. In Thoroughbred racing, the Breeders' Cup World Championships is the culmination of the horse racing season worldwide and the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic is the defining event of the international racing season.

Breeders' Cup Classic

The 2025 Breeders' Cup Classic will be held on Saturday, November 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Bet & watch the race with OffTrackBetting.com (OTB) - US Legal Online Wagering.

The 42nd Breeders' Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing's most prestigious two-day global event, consisting of 14 races with purses and awards totaling more than $28 million, will be held at Del Mar, on Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1. There will be five Breeders' Cup races on Championship Friday and nine Breeders' Cup races on Championship Saturday.

The $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), the climactic event of the Championships, will be run on the main track at 1 ¼ miles. On 13 occasions, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic also has been named Horse of the Year, and this year's Classic will once again have ramifications on the coveted year-end title.

Results: Forever Young (JPN) Wins a Classic Breeders' Cup Classic

Susumu Fujita's Forever Young (JPN) ($9), third in last year's race behind Sierra Leone and Fierceness, turned the tables Saturday afternoon at Del Mar to win the 42nd running of the $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) for 3-year-olds and up by a half-length over Sierra Leone.

Trained by Yoshito Yahagi and ridden by Ryusei Sakai, Forever Young covered the mile and a quarter over a fast track in 2:00.19. The victory is the third for Yahagi in the World Championships and first in the Classic. It is Sakai's first Breeders' Cup win.

More forwardly placed than last year, Forever Young tracked in third behind Contrary Thinking and Fierceness through opening fractions of :23.04, :45.97 and 1:10.48.

Approaching the far turn, Sakai gave Forever Young his cue and he swept to the front with Mindframe and Journalism also on the move and Fierceness saving ground on the inside. Forever Young maintained a safe margin over Fierceness and then was able to hold the late charge from Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone finished a length in front of Fierceness who was 2 ¼ lengths in front of Journalism with Mindframe, Baeza, Nevada Beach, Antiquarian and Contrary Thinking following in order.

Forever Young is a 4-year-old son of Real Steel (JPN) out of the Congrats mare Forever Darling. The victory was worth $3,640,000 and increased his earnings to $19,358,590 with a record of 13-10-0-3 that includes three Grade or Group 1 wins.

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UPDATE - Oct 29: Unfortunately, early favorite Sovereignty is officially OUT of the Breeders' Cup Classic after developing a fever. Morning line odds adjusted accordingly.

2025 Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings - Sovereignty Finishes At the Top

Oct 7 - Leading all the way from the start of voting 10 weeks ago, Godolphin's homebred 3-year-old Sovereignty finished first in the final poll of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings.

The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), which will be run Nov. 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California, during the 42nd Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Trained by Bill Mott, Sovereignty, winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1), and the Travers Stakes (G1), earned 394 votes.

Repole Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael B. Tabor, and Mrs. John Magnier's Fierceness, who won the Aug. 30 Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar, is in second place with 338 votes for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Whitney Stakes (G1) winner and defending Longines Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone finished in third place with 317 votes for owners Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook T. Smith, and trainer Chad Brown.

Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) winner Mindframe finished in fourth place with 245 votes for owners Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC, and trainer Todd Pletcher.

Susumu Fujita's Forever Young (JPN) won the Oct. 1 listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Racecourse in Japan in his first start since finishing third in the Dubai World Cup (G1) in April. Trained by Yoshito Yahagi, Forever Young, third in last year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, improved from sixth to fifth place in the final poll, earning 217 votes.

Journalism, winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1), dropped one position to sixth place with 212 votes for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta, Elayne Stables Five, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, and Derrick Smith, and trainer Michael McCarthy. Baeza, winner of the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) for C R K Stable LLC and Grandview Equine, came in seventh place with 172 votes for trainer John Shirreffs.

Two more Pletcher-trained horses finished in the eighth and ninth positions. Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winner Antiquarian came in eighth place with 120 votes for Centennial Farms, and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 4-year-old Locked, who won the Sept. 27 Woodward (G2) at Aqueduct, came in ninth place with 58 votes.

Godolphin's 5-year-old homebred Highland Falls, runner-up in the Whitney Stakes (G1), rounded out the top 10 with 45 votes for trainer Brad Cox.

The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings were determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. A list of voting members can be found here.

In the Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, each voter rated horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.

2025 BREEDERS' CUP RACE SCHEDULE