DEL MAR, Calif. – Precise holds the distinction as the future-book favorite for the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse next May, one of that country’s most historic races for 3-year-old fillies.
Precise may end her 2025 season with a piece of American racing history if she runs to expectation in Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.
September was a month of revival for 59-year-old jockey Mike Smith.
Smith won his first Grade 1 stakes of the year aboard Bottle of Rouge in the Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 6 and another Grade 1 aboard Nevada Beach in the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27. This weekend, those runners – as well as Kopion, who starts in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint; Tamara, a contender in the $1 million BC Filly and Mare Sprint; and Will Take It, an outsider in the $1 million BC Dirt Mile – can make Smith the oldest rider to ever win a Breeders’ Cup race.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Ted Noffey is on the outside, but he’s hardly an outsider.
A winner of his first three starts, all when starting from outside post positions, Ted Noffey will start as a heavy favorite in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar from the outside again in a seven-horse field.
“I guess you wouldn’t be looking to dirt-school him for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup,” said Pletcher, who trains Ted Noffey for Spendthrift Farm. “He’s got enough tactical speed to get over and get in a good position, good rhythm, hopefully not complicated.”
From Friday afternoon through lunchtime on Saturday, the familiar orange and purple-quartered colors of Spendthrift Farm will be easy to spot on jockeys in five Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar.
It would be no surprise if a few of those runners reach the winner’s circle.
DEL MAR, Calif. – American horses regularly race at the Royal Ascot meeting in England, but rare is the American horse who races competitively. The 2-year-old filly Lennilu did.
In the Queen Mary Stakes, a Group 2 run over a straight five furlongs, Lennilu pressed the pace and held admirably for third of 23. That showing and her whole body of work make Lennilu a player Friday in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Problem is, True Love, the horse who won the Queen Mary, beating Lennilu by 1 3/4 lengths, also has come to California for the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Del Mar
Monday, Oct. 27
Weather: Cloudy
Temp.: 60°
Track: Fast
Turf: Firm
DEL MAR, Calif. – Anyone who came out expecting to see Sovereignty lay down a bullet work in final preparation for the Classic may have been sorely disappointed, but his connections certainly were not after the number one attraction for this year’s Breeders’ Cup breezed an easy, maintenance-like half-mile shortly after dawn Monday at Del Mar.
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.
After suffering three heartbreaking stakes defeats early in his career, National Identity returned from a five-month layoff in September to shake an unlucky reputation. The 3-year-old colt dusted a statebred allowance field by five lengths and will take the next step in the third race on Thursday at Aqueduct, an $82,000 allowance for nonwinners of two.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gimme a Nother, a six-time graded or group stakes winner in California and South Africa, and Way to Be Marie, a minor stakes winner at Fair Grounds in March, will miss Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar.
Gimme a Nother was not shipped from trainer Graham Motion’s base in Maryland because of a minor splint bone injury, Motion said Monday. Motion said the 5-year-old will remain in training in 2026. Her absence from the Breeders’ Cup was first reported by Paulick Report.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Having done all his serious preparation at home in Saratoga, Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty on Monday at Del Mar put in his final work for Saturday’s $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, breezing a half-mile in 49.83 seconds by himself.
Under assistant trainer Neil Poznansky, who is Sovereignty’s work rider but not everyday exercise rider, Sovereignty went in splits of 12.95 and 25.06, getting his final quarter in 24.77, per Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.28.
