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.

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.

The field for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar will come into sharp focus this weekend with three preps for the 1 1/16-mile race being held across the country.

Tommy Jo, who is the 3-1 favorite on the early Juvenile Fillies line set by Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona, will make her two-turn debut Friday at Keeneland in the Grade 1, $650,000 Alcibiades.

Explora, the early 5-1 second choice for the Juvenile Fillies, will stretch out Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 2, $200,000 Oak Leaf.

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.