The 41st Breeders’ Cup Thoroughbred World Championships take place Friday and Saturday from Del Mar, California. The two-day, 14-race event starts with Future Stars Friday, which features five juvenile (two-year-old) races. On Saturday, the Breeders’ Cup will showcase nine more races across different surfaces and divisions, including the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.
City of Troy was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite in a full field of 14 for the Classic and drew the No. 3 post at Monday’s draw. The colt is trained by Aidan O’Brien and will have Ryan Moore as his ride. Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez, was the second choice at 3-1 and will break from the No. 9 post.
Post time for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic is 5:41 p.m. ET and will be televised on NBC.
The contenders
1. Forever Young (6-1): One of three Japanese horses competing in Saturday’s Classic, Forever Young finished third in the Kentucky Derby, despite nothing going his way out of the gate. He is 6-1 in his career, winning in Japan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He has had the summer off to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup and reports are he’s in great form.
3. City of Troy (5-2): The son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify has won six of his seven starts and comes in as the favorite. This is hands down the most dominant horse in Europe. The only concern is that all of his wins have come on turf, and this will be his first race on dirt. His dam was dominant on grass, so no one knows quite how City of Troy will perform on this surface.
7. Ushba Tesoro (12-1:) Another of the Japanese horses, Ushba Tesoro has raced 35 times with a record of 11-4-5 and over $16 million in earnings. He is great at this 1 1/4-mile distance — bred for it, actually. This is a very high energy horse that is ready to go.
8. Pyrenees (30-1): Pyreness is my favorite long shot. The four-year-old son of Into Mischief had won four straight races before finishing second in his last two. He has proven he can race with the big boys.
9. Fierceness (3-1): Won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last year, as well as the Jim Dandy and Travers this season. He is coming out of Post 9, which means he is going to have to work early and cover more ground. Fierceness is 0-3 when not in the lead down the stretch, and with the speed in this race, that is a concern.
12. Arthur’s Ride (15-1): Son of legendary sire Tapit, this horse has the speed to dominate and has had two months off to rest up for the Breeders Cup’ Classic. He dominated the Whitney Stakes, and his trainer, William Mott, has dominated on this track, winning 15 Breeders’ Cup races. Arthur’s Ride can set the tone early, but the concern is if he will tire at this distance.
Going to the window
Among the notable betting options are:
Win: Picking the winning horse; Place: Picking a horse to finish first or second; Show: Picking a horse to finish first, second or third; Exacta: Picking the top two horses in the exact order; Trifecta: Picking the top three horses in the exact order; Box: In wagers such as exactas and trifectas, covering all permutations of the picked horses.
Anita’s plays
Win or place: 7. Ushba Tesoro Exacta Box: 1-7-8 (a $1 Exacta Box with three horses would cost $12) Trifecta Box: 1-3-7-8-9-12 (A $1 Trifecta Box with six horses would cost $120)
Did you know?
Courtesy of Chip Tuttle
The Breeders’ Cup has emerged as a global event, attracting more international participation than any other racing event in North America. That is true this year more than ever, with a record number of international participants and international wagering.
Horses from five continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, South Africa) will be represented during the Breeders’ Cup.
Australia will also be represented by jockey Rachel King, who is British, but lives and rides in Australia.
A strong contingent from Europe is again headed to the Breeders’ Cup, headed by City of Troy, one of the highest-rated horses in the world, who will try to win the first Breeders’ Cup Classic for Irish racing powerhouse Coolmore.
Japan will send 19 horses to compete in 11 Breeders’ Cup races. Both will be records. In 2023, when Japan had eight horses across five races, handle from Japan was more than $19.1 million. Japanese bettors are only allowed to wager on a handful of Breeders’ Cup races with Japanese horses in them.
The last time the Breeders’ Cup was at Del Mar, in 2021, the Japanese won their first two Breeders’ Cup races — Marche Lorraine in the Distaff and Loves Only You in the Filly & Mare Turf.
Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.
But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.
Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.
Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).
Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.
New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.
Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.
Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.
He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.
Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.
DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.
LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.
Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.
He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.
In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.
