The expected clash of a defending winner, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, and a Kentucky Derby winner will make for an intriguing renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Full Serrano, who won last year’s running, is anticipated for the race, as is White Abarrio, who captured the BC Classic in 2023. Mystik Dan, who won last year’s Kentucky Derby, is also being pointed for the Dirt Mile.

Mystik Dan will enter off a gutsy win in the Grade 2 Lukas Classic last Saturday at Churchill Downs.

The complexion of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Sprint changed significantly last weekend with trainer Derek Ryan’s announcement that division leader Book’em Danno would bypass the race and instead head to the farm to await his 2026 campaign. That news was followed over the next 24 hours with victories by Patriot Spirit in the Grade 3 Vosburgh at Aqueduct and Imagination in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, both Win and You’re In races for the $2 million BC Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

The expected European shippers for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1 are a diverse cast. They range from a two-time winner of the BC Turf to a gelding who raced over hurdles earlier this year and has yet to win a graded stakes.

Rebel’s Romance, who won the BC Turf at Keeneland in 2022 and at Del Mar last year, will attempt to become the first three-time winner of the richest turf race in the United States. Trained primarily in Britain by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin Racing, Rebel’s Romance won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct on Saturday.

A trainer with a horse in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, the major one-mile contest on Oct. 18 at Ascot in England, recently was quoted saying that the QE II, save for crack miler Field of Gold, was coming up a winnable race this year. Most of the better European milers, he said, seemed to be pointing toward the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Trainers Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher have combined to win the last four runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and eight of the last 15. Both Hall of Fame trainers have top contenders for the 42nd running of the Juvenile to be run Oct. 31 at Del Mar.

While Baffert appears to have a bushel of contenders, Pletcher is likely to go with just one. But Ted Noffey might be the right one.

Last year, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. made the most of an inspired decision when Soul of an Angel cut back in distance late in her 5-year-old season and went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at odds of 19-1. Joseph has a live chance to defend his title at Del Mar in this year’s edition, but like several trainers blessed with options, it is still unclear which horses will represent him in the starting gate.

If the prospective field for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff stays intact, early favorite Thorpedo Anna is not a lock to score a repeat victory next month at Del Mar.

Fourteen fillies and mares are under Distaff consideration, double the number that ran in the mundane 2024 Distaff won by Thorpedo Anna at 2-5. She was lone speed in a field decimated by scratches and early retirement.