Breeders’ Cup modified its event name in 2001 to become the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, a change meant to strengthen its marketing efforts and allow more fans to better understand what the races comprising the Breeders’ Cup represent.
While winning one of the 14 Breeders’ Cup World Championship races over the two-day event does not assure a horse of earning a championship—nor an Eclipse Award, the North American measurement of championship success—they certainly go a long way toward deciding those year-end awards. The same goes for human participants, not just equines.
Cody’s Wish , Idiomatic, Fierceness , Just F Y I , Inspiral , Goodnight Olive , and Elite Power won Breeders’ Cup races last year at Santa Anita Park. Two months later, they secured Eclipse Awards in voting conducted by representatives of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Daily Racing Form, and National Thoroughbred Racing Association member racing officials and Equibase field personnel. Cody’s Wish also earned the most prestigious Horse of the Year honor.
Still other horses, however, won at the Breeders’ Cup but were outpolled for an Eclipse, notably Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) victor White Abarrio , who finished second to Cody’s Wish in voting for older dirt male and Horse of the Year.
Yet more runners either lost at the Breeders’ Cup (Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T) runner-up Up to the Mark ) or did not race at all (a scratched Arcangelo ) but did so much through the year that they sealed up a championship.
Very few horses are assured of winning Eclipse Awards this year, irrespective of where they finish at the Breeders’ Cup—and maybe only one: Thorpedo Anna . Having enjoyed a spectacular run through the 3-year-old filly division in 2024 and having finished a close second to Fierceness in the Travers Stakes (G1), she seems a sure thing for the 3-year-old filly title.
As for the other categories, including those for older male and 3-year-old male, most seem up for grabs ahead of the Nov. 1-2 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.
Consider the division for 3-year-old male. Fierceness, a Repole Stable’s homebred son of City of Light trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, appears the leader, having also won the Florida Derby (G1) and Jim Dandy Stakes (G2). Still, his accomplishments are not so far ahead of others to prevail if another 3-year-old outruns him and wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic or perhaps even finishes a fine second to an older horse in the race.
If Kentucky Derby (G1) runner-up Sierra Leone were to win the Classic, the Chad Brown-trained son of Gun Runner would also have two grade 1 victories and an additional grade 2, having won the Risen Star Stakes (G2) earlier in the year for his ownership of Coolmore-affiliated owners, Rocket Ship Racing, and Peter Brant.
City of Troy , a three-time winner in Europe this year on turf for ownership from Coolmore, would have a stronger combined European and North American record if he triumphs on dirt in the Classic, having earlier won the Derby (G1) at Epsom, the Coral Eclipse Stakes (G1) at Sandown, and Juddmonte International Stakes (G1).
The Aidan O’Brien trainee would need to overcome having made just one start in North America—this turf writer prefers to honor horses with multiple-start campaigns in this continent—but as Inspiral showed last year, not all voters share this opinion. No specific rule requires a horse to have raced multiple times in North America, as the Sovereign Awards require horses in Canada to be eligible for championships there.
Undoubtedly, it would be a history-defining achievement if City of Troy, a son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify , proves capable of transferring his turf excellence to dirt.
Susumu Fujita’s Forever Young could also garner support if the Japanese-trained colt captures the Classic given his worldwide travels and accomplishments that include a tough-luck third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) when beaten two noses by victorious Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone, who lugged in and bumped with him down the Churchill Downs stretch.
The three stewards at Churchill erred by not posting the inquiry sign in the Derby. Had they examined the race over a more extended period, elevating him from third to second due to interference from Sierra Leone would likely have been a prudent decision. Far too often, Kentucky stewards quickly declare a race official absent a rider’s claim of foul, which did not occur in the Derby.
Days later, long after the race had gone official and millions of dollars of wagers had been settled, the stewards fined Sierra Leone’s jockey Tyler Gaffalione $2,500 for “touching a rival with his left hand nearing the finish” as his mount lugged in.
Sierra Leone (outside) battle in close quarters with Forever Young in the stretch of the Kentucky Derby, as Mystik Dan (rail) hangs on for the win at Churchill Downs
Of course, no view but those of the three stewards matters when it comes to determinations of interference—though, along with my counterparts with the NTWAB, I am privileged to have a small say in the Eclipse Awards as a voter.
So these horses running in the Classic and those who have been top performers throughout the year, including individual Triple Crown race winners Mystik Dan, Seize the Grey , and Dornoch , will be under thorough consideration when that Eclipse ballot arrives this winter.
Mystik Dan, currently the leading money-earning 3-year-old in North America with more than $4 million in earnings, won the richest of the three Triple Crown races, the $5 million Kentucky Derby, while Seize the Grey and Dornoch captured the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) and $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1), respectively. Mystik Dan should be respected for competing in all three legs of the Triple Crown, finishing second in the Preakness before his efforts through the series caught up to him, and he ran a tired eighth in the Belmont. He has not run since having only just resumed training at Keeneland.
Seize the Grey and Dornoch can match Fierceness in having two grade 1 victories and a complimentary grade 2 score. The former added the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx Racing last month to his earlier classic win, and the latter the Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park. Neither grade 1 is as prestigious as the Travers, leaving Fierceness not only on top in my book but ahead in the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top Thoroughbred Poll.
Dornoch, set to begin stallion duties next year at Spendthrift Farm after being retired due to injury following his fourth-place in the Travers, does not have the opportunity to add to his résumé at the Breeders’ Cup.
MyRacehorse’s Seize the Grey still could, however. Breeders’ Cup lists him on its website as one of its leading prospects for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), not the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles. Seize the Grey faded to seventh this summer in the Belmont Stakes, which was run at 1 1/4 miles this year due to being at Saratoga Race Course amid reconstruction at Belmont Park. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said after the Belmont he had doubts about Seize the Grey being at his best over the Saratoga surface.
Seize the Grey after winning the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing
A win in the Dirt Mile likely won’t be enough to earn him a championship if Fierceness takes the Classic, and perhaps even if Sierra Leone, City of Troy, or Forever Young wins the race. But if an older horse prevails in the main event and Seize the Grey is successful in the Dirt Mile, he would have a case for an Eclipse Award by having three grade 1 victories, one of them earned in the Triple Crown.
