Kentucky Derby 2025 preview: Burnham Square
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Sovereignty Leads Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings For The Third Week
Sovereignty Leads Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings For The Third Week originally appeared on Paulick Report. Godolphin's homebred Sovereignty stayed atop the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings for a third consecutive week heading into his expected next start in the Aug. 23 Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run Nov. 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., during the 42nd Breeders' Cup World by Bill Mott, Sovereignty, winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1) and Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), totaled 329 votes and held a 27-vote margin over Sierra Leone (302 votes), the defending Longines Breeders' Cup Classic winner and the winner of the Aug. 2 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. The remaining eight positions in the poll were also unchanged from last Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC's homebred 4-year-old Mindframe, winner of the Stephen Foster (G1), is in third place with 255 votes, followed by Preakness (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Journalism, who is in fourth place with 234 votes for trainer Michael McCarthy and owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta, Elayne Stables Five, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, and Derrick Corp's 4-year-old San Diego Handicap (G2) winner Nysos stays in fifth place with 184 votes for trainer Bob Baffert. Saudi Cup (G1) winner Forever Young is in sixth place with 143 votes for owner Susumu Fujita and trainer Yoshito Yahagi. The 4-year-old Fierceness, owned by Repole Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael B. Tabor, and Mrs. John Magnier, and trained by Todd Pletcher, is in seventh place with 139 votes.C R K Stable LLC and Grandview Equine's 3-year-old Baeza, third in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes for trainer John Shirreffs, is in eighth place with 97 5-year-old homebred Highland Falls, runner-up in the Whitney Stakes, is in ninth place with 81 votes for trainer Brad Cox.C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's 6-year-old White Abarrio, who won the 2023 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, is in 10th place with 46 votes for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. Sierra Leone (Whitney), Mindframe (Stephen Foster), Journalism (Haskell), and Forever Young (Saudi Cup) have each earned automatic starting positions and fees paid into this year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings will be announced each week through Oct. 7. A list of voting members can be found here. In the Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending – The Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders' Cup 2025 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 1/4 miles on the main track at Del Mar, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC. This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
13-08-2025
- Yahoo
‘He's Got The Potential': Owen Almighty Gears Up For Fall Campaign
'He's Got The Potential': Owen Almighty Gears Up For Fall Campaign originally appeared on Paulick Report. Unraced since finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby, Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby winner Owen Almighty is gearing up for an autumn campaign, reports Rankin, president of Flying Dutchmen, said on the BloodHorse Monday podcast that the colt could make his return to the races in the Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes on the Charles Town Classic undercard on Aug. 22, or the G1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23. Both races are seven furlongs with a $500,000 purse, although the Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes is around two turns."Either place, I know he'll give us everything he's got. He always does," Rankin said on the BloodHorse Monday podcast. "We just want to get him started back on the right foot and get him geared up for a fall campaign. I still believe he's got the potential to be a very good 4-year-old."A son of Speightstown, the Brian Lynch trainee has three wins and two seconds in eight starts. Big Truzz, another top 3-year-old on the Flying Dutchmen roster, could make his next start in the G1 Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 20 after a seven-length romp in the Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 10, Rankin said on the more at This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
Forbes
08-08-2025
- Forbes
Baffert Continues To Cultivate Talent At Del Mar
How does a coach continuously produce winners? Is it luck, hard work, talent levels in the ranks, execution of the gameplan, or a combination of the previously listed? Most familiar with competition understand it is usually some of all of the above. For one Thoroughbred trainer it has been all of the aforementioned plus a great garden spot that has been excellent for cultivating young horses. Bob Baffert has long been considered one of the best in the Thoroughbred racing game. Rightfully so we must add as he has had more horses cross the finish line first in the world's most famous race (7), the Kentucky Derby, trained more Preakness winners than anyone (8), has three wins in the Belmont Stakes, and has conditioned nineteen Breeders' Cup race winners. For good measure, 'Big Race Bob' also has more Grade 1 race wins (the highest level of competition) than any trainer in the game. How has this Arizona native remained at the pinnacle of the sport since beginning his Thoroughbred conditioning career in 1991? It all begins with developing his younger talent where the surf meets the turf down at old Del Mar. Nestled just north of San Diego, this piece of Thoroughbred racing heaven has been a prime location for the Baffert barn over the years. 'There are lots of things that make Del Mar a great place for our young horses', says Baffert, who has conditioned two Triple Crown winners (American Pharoah 2015, Justify 2018). 'The weather is always good and there is very little rain which is very important. You don't miss training time and that can be a big key in development. The track is always in great shape, the atmosphere is good, and it's just a great environment to be in.' Success has been synonymous with this Hall of Fame conditioner at the Seaside Oval as he has far more Stakes wins (177) at Del Mar than any other trainer. Among those are an incredible nineteen wins in the Del Mar Futurity and eleven in the Best Pal Stakes, two of the biggest races for two-year-old males at the track founded by Bing Crosby in 1937. 'Our program puts a lot of emphasis on developing young horses', says Baffert. 'We believe in doing it the right way. Some come around quicker than others. Each horse has to be handled a little differently because like any athlete, some develop quicker mentally and physically than others. Being patient is very important with all of them. Authentic is a good example of a horse we didn't run at Del Mar in the summer of his two-year-old year because he just was not ready. At three he won the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic.' Developing young talent with works and races at Del Mar every summer has long been a staple of his team's success throughout the last three plus decades. Even though he is the man with the lineup card and pencil, Baffert points to other components as mainstays for his team's success. 'I am very fortunate to have clients that want to run in and win stakes races', says Baffert. 'They give me the freedom to pick the horses we purchase and buying the right horses is where it all begins. Our goal is always to run in the biggest races across the entire country and go in with a real chance to win. Having great people around me and backing me is most important. And it also is fantastic to get those young horses going at a great place like Del Mar.' The Bob Baffert barn will send two runners to post in the grade 3 Best Pal Stakes on Saturday, August 9. St. Petersburg will break from gate 3 and Desert Gate breaks from the 5 hole in the six furlong race over the Del Mar dirt.
