Sovereignty, the leading 3-year-old in the country who will bid for Horse of the Year honors in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, stepped up his preparations for that race by working five furlongs in 1:01.44 on Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.
Skip to main content
Create Your DRF Account
New to DRF?
Everything you could possibly
need in one place
need in one place
Register
Don't have an account?
Register Here
DRF Past Performances
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Bottas is named for a Formula One driver. Valtteri Bottas hopes the cars he drives have the gears the 2-year-old colt named for him seems to possess.
After saving all the ground early under Manny Franco, Bottas tipped outside for the stretch and got brushed by a horse to his inside in midstretch, but he was still able to outfinish Heeere’s Johnny to win Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes by a head at Aqueduct. It was another length back to Let’s Be Frank in third.
Three works completed, three to go for the star 3-year-old Journalism in advance of a scheduled start in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
On Friday at Santa Anita, Journalism worked five furlongs in 1:00.80, his first at that distance since a second-place finish by 3 1/4 lengths to Fierceness in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 30. Journalism had half-mile workouts at Santa Anita on Sept. 20 and Sept. 26.
On Friday, Journalism worked with the Uruguayan import Touch of Destiny.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Kopion, the winner of three graded stakes for female sprinters from last December to early May, is on schedule for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1 after a quick five-furlong workout in 59.40 seconds at Santa Anita on Wednesday.
“She wasn’t meant to have a fast work, but she did,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “She’s just going good.”
Rapid workouts have become customary for Kopion in recent weeks. She went a half-mile in 46.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Sept. 24, the quickest of 22 works at the distance that day.
Wed, 10/01/2025 - 13:53
If you liked last year’s Breeders’ Cup, chances are you’re going to like this year’s as well.
Not only is the 42nd Breeders’ Cup being held for the second straight year at Del Mar, just outside San Diego, Calif., but five horses who won Breeders’ Cup races in 2024 are expected back to try and repeat in their respective divisions. That quintet includes Classic winner Sierra Leone, Turf winner Rebel’s Romance, Distaff winner Thorpedo Anna, Sprint winner Straight No Chaser, and Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano.
One cost $140,000 as a yearling at Keeneland in 2022, the other $75,000 at the same auction a year later.
With those bargain buys, cousins George Messina and Mike Lee had acquired two fillies in Stellify and Fionn who this fall rate among the best American chances for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The fillies, trained by Brad Cox, have both earned more than $1.4 million this year.
Since its addition to the Breeders’ Cup program in 2008, the Turf Sprint has been a race where fillies and mares regularly take on males, with good results.
Mizdirection (2012, 2013), Belvoir Bay (2019), Glass Slippers (2020), and Caravel (2022) are all females who have landed in the winner’s circle. Additionally, Gotta Have Her (second in 2009), Unzip Me (third in 2010), Reneesgotzip (third in 2012, second in 2013), Lady Shipman (third in 2015), Charmaine’s Mia (third in 2021), and Ag Bullet (third in 2024) have finished on the board.
Wed, 10/01/2025 - 12:27
Three key preps for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint will take place around the country this weekend, and meanwhile, an international contingent also is preparing to depart for Del Mar. But with plenty of moving parts, one of the top choices for the newest race on the block already appears clear.
Who wants to take on Aidan O’Brien?
That could be the query facing the owners and trainers with 2-year-old fillies successful in three prep races in the United States this weekend leading to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
The races represent the domestic playoffs, of sorts, and will determine which runners are sent to Del Mar to take on what has the making of a tremendous team from O’Brien’s powerful Irish stable.
The first thing to know about the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at this relatively early date is that we don’t really know much.
The Pilgrim, the New York prep for the big dance, comes Friday, the Bourbon at Keeneland two days later. Several key overseas races, including the Jean-Luc Lagardere this weekend, have yet to be run, and not for a couple weeks will the overseas contingent come into sharp focus.
The second thing to know about: Ireland-based trainer Aidan O’Brien or England-based trainer Charlie Appleby is probably winning it.