The Breeders’ Cup Classic 2024 will take place on Saturday from Del Mar Racetrack, with Horse of the Year honors likely up for grabs
Horse racing in the United States peaks during the summer with the Triple Crown races, but arguably the biggest thoroughbred event outside of those is the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
The event consists of 14 races in all, with the crown jewel of those being the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with this year’s event taking place on Saturday. Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego will host the Classic, and its prestige has almost risen to the level of the Triple Crown races, to the point that Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes—plus the Breeders’ Cup Classic—are collectively known as the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred Racing.
The 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic field doesn’t feature any horse who’s won a Triple Crown race, but it is a diverse group of 14 horses with varying degrees of experience. Unlike the Triple Crown races, the Breeders’ Cup Classic isn’t just limited to 3-year-old horses, as the Classic is open to horses 3 and older. Thoroughbreds typically peak at 4 to 5 years old, and nine of the 14 horses in this year’s field are of that age.
Despite that, the three biggest favorites for the
Breeders’ Cup Classic 2024 are all youngsters aged 3 years old. City of Troy is the 5-2 favorite, and no one can match his pedigree as he’s the son of 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify and a descendant of arguably the greatest thoroughbred of all time, Secretariat. City of Troy has his own merits as he’s won six of his seven career races, including four Graded I races, which is the highest level in thoroughbred racing.
After City of Troy, Fierceness (3-1) is the second-favorite and may be the most-known horse in the field to casual horse racing fans. That’s because he was the favorite to win the 2024 Kentucky Derby, only to greatly disappoint and finish 15th of 20 horses. However, he’s won both of his starts since then, including the Travers Stakes, which is the exact same 1 ¼-mile distance that the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic is.
The other 3-year-old in the field is Forever Young, the third-favorite at 6-1. Bred in Japan, he hopes to become the first Japanese horse to win this race and the fourth foreign horse overall, as Argentina, Canada, and Ireland each have one victory, while the United States has produced the remaining 37 winners. Forever Young has won all six of his races on foreign soil but finished third in his lone American race, which was this year’s Kentucky Derby.
After the three favorites, there’s a glut of seven mid-shots, each with unique strengths that could result in them claiming the bounty of the $7 million purse from Saturday’s race.
Age and experience are what Ushba Tesoro (12-1) will rely on, as the 7-year-old has raced an astounding 35 times in his career. That’s a dozen more than any other horse in the field, with his highlight win coming at the 2023 Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race.
Another under-the-radar colt is Newgate (20-1), whose father, Into Mischief, has been named the
Leading Sire in North America in each of the last five years. That means Into Mischief’s progeny—and Newgate’s siblings—have won more prize money than any other progeny each year. Thus, Newgate has genetics in his favor, in addition to the most famous trainer in horse racing, Bob Baffert. In addition to 17 wins in individual Triple Crown races, Baffert has won the Breeders’ Cup Classic four times—an all-time record for a trainer.
As for the extreme longshots, it’s a group that’s four deep, and they all have 30-1 odds to win. Perhaps the most notable of those is Mixto, who is based in California, unlike most other thoroughbreds which are in Kentucky. Thus, the track at Del Mar in Southern California is close by, and
Mixon has raced six times at the venue, including his first career start and his most recent. That last one resulted in a victory and is noteworthy because it was at the exact same 1 ¼-mile distance of the BC Classic. No horse will top Mixto’s comfort level at Del Mar Racetrack, which could be a huge advantage come Saturday.
There’s lots at stake in the Breeders’ Cup Classic 2024, outside of the $7 million prize pool. With different winners at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont, no horse has truly separated himself from the rest in regards to being named the Horse of the Year, aka the MVP of thoroughbred racing.
Thus, whoever emerges at the BC Classic could have a legitimate claim to winning that award, as is often the case. Over the last nine years, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner has gone on to be named the Horse of the Year five times, while three other BC Classic winners have finished as runner-up in the year-end honor.
The 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic will be the 10th of the 14 races in the Breeders’ Cup World Championship. The BC Classic has a post time of 5:41 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 2, and will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
