News - $7M Breeders’ Cup Classic highlights Saturday race schedule at Del Mar

The Breeders’ Cup World Championships will conclude Saturday at Del Mar with eight races, including the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. Fierceness became the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/4-mile dirt race after Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty was scratched Wednesday because of a fever. Fierceness will be racing for the first time since winning the Grade 1 $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 30. Sierra Leone is the co-second choice at 7-2 with Forever Young. Sierra Leone won last year’s Classic by 1 1/2 lengths over Fierceness, with Forever Young finishing third, a half-length behind Fierceness. The Breeders’ Cup Classic is North America’s richest horse race. The post time is 3:25 p.m., with NBC beginning its coverage at 12:30 p.m. It will also air the turf sprint, sprint, distaff and turf races. Saturday’s nine Breeders’ Cup races will begin at noon with the 7-furlong, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Coverage begins at 11 a.m. on USA Network, which will resume its coverage at 4 p.m. after the conclusion of NBC’s coverage. All six hours of Saturday’s coverage will stream live on Peacock. Friday’s highlight was the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile race, won by the undefeated favorite Ted Noffey by one length over Mr. A. P. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner is traditionally tapped as the winter favorite for the following Kentucky Derby. However, only two Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winners have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby — Street Sense, the 2007 Derby winner, and Nyquist, the 2016 winner. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile is part of the 36-race Road to the Kentucky Derby series which awards points to the top five finishers in each race, with the top 17 point earners earning a spot in the Kentucky Derby. More than $34 million in purses and awards are offered in the 14 races over the two-day championship. This is the fourth time the Breeders’ Cup has been held at Del Mar, which also hosted the event in 2017, 2021 and 2024. A record 13 countries have entries in the 42nd running of the event — Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Peru, South Africa, the United States and Uruguay. A total of 177 horses were entered in the World Championships, including seven previous champions: Citizen Bull, Fierceness, Full Serrano, Rebel’s Romance, Sierra Leone, Straight No Chaser and White Abarrio. A group of animal activists have planned a protest outside the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in an effort to bring attention to the several dozen horses that have died at racetracks this year, according to the California Horse Racing Board. Of those, at least three have died or been euthanized at Del Mar, the latest being Esmeray on Thursday. —City News Service