DEL MAR, Calif. – Saturday’s $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic is shaping up to be arguably the deepest running in the race’s 42-year history. It’s not just the fans who are looking forward to seeing what happens. The 10-horse Classic field includes the top three finishers from last year’s race – Sierra Leone, Fierceness, and Forever Young – as well as a top-flight group of 3-year-olds led by Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes top three finishers Sovereignty, Journalism, and Baeza. Add in Grade 1-winning older horses Antiquarian and Mindframe as well as recent Grade 1-winning 3-year-old Nevada Beach and you have a field that has accounted for 14 Grade 1 or Group 1 victories in 2025 and 19 overall. Contrary Thinking is the only member of the field to not have won a stakes. “Hopefully, all the horses get there healthy and into the starting gate,” said Chad Brown, trainer of defending Classic winner and three-time career Grade 1 winner Sierra Leone. “I’m looking forward to this race as much as any fan or any other participant, it’s great for racing. When you’re in these types of positions, internally you want to put horses in the worst company . . . you’re always looking for an easier field. Truthfully, I’m not, I hope all the horses make it in there safely. I can’t wait to see the race and how it unfolds.” :: BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Sierra Leone will try to join Tiznow as the only repeat winner of the Classic (2000-01). Since then, only six Classic winners have even attempted a repeat, with Zenyatta coming within a head of Blame in 2010 after winning in 2009. Arrogate was the last to even attempt a repeat, finishing fifth in 2017 after winning it as a 3-year-old in 2016. Michael McCarthy, trainer of three-time Grade 1 winner Journalism, echoed Brown’s sentiment about wanting everyone to get to the gate healthy come Saturday, adding “I think racing deserves a race like this.” Bill Mott, who trains the probable favorite Sovereignty – who has won the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes – said participating in this year’s Classic makes it a little more nerve-wracking. “This is a great race, as a racing fan I think it’s tremendous,” said Mott, who won the Classic with Cigar and Drosselmeyer. “It’s a race that I would really enjoy watching if I wasn’t in it.” Todd Pletcher came into the year needing his older horses to carry the stable until at least his 2-year-olds got racing. That happened as Mindframe won the Churchill Downs Stakes and Stephen Foster, Fierceness captured the Pacific Classic, and Antiquarian won the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Locked, as dominant as any older horse when he won the Santa Anita Handicap in March, was pointed to the Classic until late last week when he was withdrawn. He has since been retired and arrived at Gainesway on Monday, according to Pletcher. “We felt like we accomplished what we set out to do, which was win some big races along the way and get to the Classic with a chance,” said Pletcher, who won the 2019 Classic with Vino Rosso. Asked if he’d be interested in watching the race if he wasn’t in it, Pletcher said “Oh yeah, absolutely. It’d be a shorter field though.” The 1998 Classic had a 10-horse field that had combined to win 30 Grade 1 or Group 1 stakes. That group included Skip Away, a 10-time Grade 1 winner including a victory in the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Classic and five Grade 1 wins in 1998; three-time Grade 1 winner Silver Charm; Belmont Stakes winners Victory Gallop and Touch Gold; Grade 1 winners Awesome Again, Coronado’s Quest, and Arch; and the European turf sensation Swain. Running Stag was the lone outsider, sent off at 104-1. In the end, it was Awesome Again splitting horses late under Pat Day to beat Silver Charm by three-quarters of a length. Silver Charm was a neck better than Swain, who was close to the outside rail and got third by a nose over Victory Gallop. :: Get Breeders' Cup Betting Strategies from Brad Free and David Aragona for exclusive wager recommendations and play the races with confidence! Bob Baffert, trainer of Silver Charm, said his horse, ridden by Gary Stevens, just didn’t see Awesome Again coming up his inside as Swain was drifting out farther and farther to the outside and Stevens was concerned about him. “I wish he could have stayed where he was and maybe he would have seen Awesome Again,” Baffert said. “He wouldn’t let a horse by once he got close to him, he was probably the gamest horse I ever trained.” Saturday, Baffert sends out Nevada Beach, who has the profile of 1998 Classic entrant Arch, a later-developing 3-year-old who won a Grade 1 stakes in September before finishing ninth in the Classic. “I think he’s a good horse, he’s never run against those kinds of horses but he deserves a chance,” Baffert said. “Had he not won the Win and You’re In would I have put him in there? I don’t know. Stranger things have happened.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.