AEdan O'Brien's quest to extend his record for Group 1 wins in a season has slowed a bit in recent weeks, but there was still a stunning sense of theater on stage as his team at this weekend's 2025 Breeders' Cup meeting at Del Mar hit the track for Wednesday morning exercise.
Unlike 2024, when City Of Troy was targeting the Classic, there is no clear headliner in O'Brien's line-up, but many of the horses trotting in orderly single file have won at least one Group One already this season, with four expected to be named favourites.
Arc runner-up Minnie Hauck and three-time Group 1 winner in the summer leads the turf market on Saturday, while Gstaad (Juvenile Turf), Precision (Juvenile Turf Fillies) and True Love (Juvenile Turf Sprint) are also the odds-on favorites for the three turf events on Friday's juvenile card. Other single-digit runners from the yard include The Lion In Winter (Mile) and Havana Anna (Juvenile Turf Sprint), with Ballydoyle Squadron, as is often the case, in the heart of the European competition at the meeting.
O'Brien needs a single success this weekend to take sole control of the Breeders' Cup record with 21, one more than the late D. Wayne Lucas, who died in June. It would be a remarkable achievement for an overseas coach to top names like Lucas, Bob Baffert (19) and Chad Brown (19), but he is not the only European coach with high hopes for this weekend.
Francis-Henri Graffard, who has already won the King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe this year, will attempt to complete the series of the world's most prestigious mile-and-a-half event with three different horses when Goliath heads to the turf post. And in the same race, Charlie Appleby's popular gelding Rebel's Romance managed to become only the third horse to win the Breeders' Cup three times, while setting a new earnings record for European-trained horses.
Meanwhile, Andrew Balding is hoping to claim victory for the first time at the meeting and has three runners in the two days. Pacific Mission is the underdog for the Juvenile Fillies' Turf on Friday, while Jonquil (Mile) and 4-1 shot See The Fire on the Filly & Mare Turf will take the field on Saturday.
“I was here [at Del Mar] the summer when I was 20,” Bolding, now 54, said Wednesday. “That’s the last time I was here, and nothing seems to have changed.”
“It's a big deal and it always has been and I remember as a kid in the early years it was something new and really exciting. Dad [the trainer, Ian] took Selkirk to Gulfstream Park and I remember the noise and everything about the place and [the champion sprinter] Lohsong in sprint [for her final race in 1994]”
Both Pacific Mission and See The Fire find themselves in unfavorable wide stands this weekend, which will give their jockeys, Colin Keane and Oisin Murphy, a lot to think about.
Quick Guide
Greg Wood's Thursday Tips
Show
Stratford-upon-Avon 12.47 Dickens 1.17 Followango 1.47 Prepare to Land 2.17 Quaviste 2.47 Range 3.17 Western Soldier 3.47 Faitique De L'Isle 4.17 Princess Balleya
Bath 12.55 Takeitorleaveit 1.25 Heroic 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 Fairlie Fulling 2.38 Chasing the Blues 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 Apples and Pears 6.15 Aramis Gray (Nap) 6.45 Flowstate 7.15 Juno Star (nb) 7.45 Gotta Believe 8.15 Wild Bill
“Based on this draw, I’ll leave it to the jockeys,” Bolding said. “See The Fire needs a canter from end to end and it will be interesting to see her over the extra furlong on Saturday, it could make a big difference. She is very high class on her day, the only thing is that it is the end of a long season.”
What promised to be one of the best ever in the Breeders' Cup Classic lost one of its stars Wednesday when Sovereignty, Godolphin's Kentucky Derby winner and the likely favorite, was withdrawn by Bill Mott, his trainer, because he was suffering from an infection.
Quick Guide
Greg Wood's Friday Tips
Show
Uttoxeter 12.25 La Conquiere 12.55 Heeztheboy 1.25 Just Golden 1.55 Maximum Deals 2.30 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 Sleep Mode
Wetherby 12.47 Four Sixes 1.17 Blue Carpet 1.47 Tall Dancer 2.20 Ammes 2.55 Thistle Ask (nb) 3.30 Princess Milania 4.05 Duel on 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 Arbid 7.45 Tonal 8.15 Return from Dubai
Before Sovereignty scratched, Saturday's show was expected to feature the first three home games of this year's Kentucky Derby, as well as the first three home games of last year's Classic. Sierra Leone and Fierceness, 1-2 here 12 months ago, are now vying for favoritism at 3-1, with Japan's Forever Young, third in this race, at 6-1 and Kentucky Derby runner-up Journalism, the first three-year-old team in the stakes at 7-1.
