Breeders’ Cup Predictions, Odds & Picks for Saturday: Picks for the Classic, Distaff, and Sprint

The easiest way to get your mind around the two-day wagering extravaganza that is the Breeders' Cup World Championships is to picture the event as 14 All-Star races of varying lengths, genders, and surfaces.

Every race at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., from the five-furlong Turf Sprint to the 1 1/4-mile flagship Classic, features many of the best horses in the world. It’s a wagering puzzle with infinite possibilities, and our Breeders' Cup predictions break down all the biggest races on Saturday based on the odds from our best horse racing betting sites.

🐎 Breeders’ Cup odds for Saturday

Here are the Breeders’ Cup odds for Saturday via FanDuel Racing:

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🚨 Best Breeders' Cup predictions for Saturday

Breeders' Cup Classic prediction: Forever Young (7-2)

This is Exhibit A of why the Breeders' Cup Classic is often the greatest race of the year. Unlike the Kentucky Derby, which usually features more than a handful of horses who have no shot, rarely are there pretenders in the BC Classic. Eight of the nine entries have a Grade 1 victory on their resume and Michael McCarthy, trainer of Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (5-1), described the depth of the field by saying, "I think against the caliber of horses we're running against, I don't think you want to get yourself too far back. These horses just don't stop."

Sovereignty scratched

They don't - unless you scratch them. That happened to Sovereignty, who was scratched Wednesday by trainer Bill Mott after spiking a fever. The Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes winner was the prohibitive favorite and ticket-topper on most bet slips because he was the best horse in this stellar field - even with defending champion Sierra Leone (7-2) trying to become the first horse since Tiznow in 2000-01 to repeat as Classic champion.

Backing Forever Young

Returning to the drawing board, we came up with the horse who we think will stop last - Forever Young (7-2). The Japanese import finished third in last year's Derby to Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone in a memorable photo finish and third in last year's Classic. He has only three starts this year, but one was winning the richest race on Earth - February's Saudi Cup, which he did in spectacular fashion with one of the greatest performances of 2025.

Forever Young followed that with an indifferent third in the Dubai World Cup a month later, then took six months off before blowing away a stakes race in Japan that was little more than a glorified training race for him. Before Sovereignty's scratch, you could have gotten Forever Young at 6-1, but even at a co-second choice 7-2, he offers value in this field, especially with a more advantageous post (5) than his inside post last year.

Breeders' Cup Classic contenders to consider

There is plenty of other value in this field aside from favorite Fierceness (5-2), who gets stuck with the inside post 1. Start with one of our favorites from the Triple Crown season - Baeza (10-1). Forced to deal with Sovereignty and Journalism for the Triple Crown and spring preps, Baeza finally got his Grade 1 in the Pennsylvania Derby with the fastest last-out Ragozin number of any contender, albeit against a rather weak field.

Horse to avoid

The presence of the one pretender in this field - 50-1 Contrary Thinking - means his stablemate Sierra Leone is worth a down-ticket spot. Trainer Chad Brown entered Contrary Thinking as a rabbit to set up a fast pace for Sierra Leone to close into. It worked in the summer's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga.

Breeders' Cup Distaff prediction: Seismic Beauty (9-5)

This race got a lot more interesting when defending Distaff champion and reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna retired over the summer. Thorpedo Anna was the 12th 3-year-old to win the Distaff, and her victory paid a meager $2.80, the second smallest payout in Breeders' Cup history.

Don't expect a miserly repeat this year. But do expect a California horse - the Bob Baffert-trained Seismic Beauty - to upend a woeful trend for California horses in Del Mar's Distaff. Horses prepping in the Golden State are 0-0-1 in six starts at Del Mar. Seismic Beauty (4-2-1 in seven starts) comes in off a gate-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar–the third consecutive race she has wired the field. Previously, she captured the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes by five lengths and an April allowance optional claiming race at Santa Anita by 10. One analyst called Seismic Beauty "the easiest single of the entire Breeders' Cup." We're not arguing the point.

Breeders' Cup Distaff long shots

If you want to stay away from the favorite, summon the Force of Dorth Vader (5-1), who is a much better choice underneath Seismic Beauty than 4-1 second choice Nitrogen. This well-raced Florida-bred (5-3-1 in 17 starts, $1,018,218) has a win and a second in two prominent Grade 1s, including a nose defeat to Thorpedo Anna in August's Personal Ensign at Saratoga.

Clicquot (10-1) is the best of the 3-year-olds, and with four consecutive victories riding into Del Mar, is a definite must on your tickets.

Breeders' Cup Sprint prediction: Imagination (6-1)

Races like the Sprint are a perfect example of why the Breeders' Cup is such a bettor's bacchanalia. According to Xpressbet, nearly 40% of the event's winners came home at 10-1 or longer odds. That resulted in an average payout of $19.91 on a $2 ticket. And Del Mar has played perfectly into this angle, with favorites finishing sixth, sixth and third in the previous three BC Sprints held there.

Take last year, when Mullikin finished third at 3.20-1, bested by winner Straight No Chaser at 6.10-1 and runner-up Bentornato at 28-1. All three return this year, with Bentornato (5-2) in the favorite's role and Straight No Chaser (8-1) and Mullikin (15-1) at elevated odds from last year's duel. Straight No Chaser opened his 6-year-old season winning a Group 2 on the Saudi Cup undercard, then stumbling to an eighth and a third in his next two races.

That's two more races than Bentornato's run this year. His only 2025 race came last month at Churchill Downs, when he won the Grade 1 Society Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths. Aside from that, Elite Power two years ago is the only favorite to win the BC Sprint in the last 10 years.

All of which is to say we are imagining Imagination (6-1) to continue all of those trends, including the one where California horses have won two of the three Sprints at Del Mar. He too is lightly raced in 2025 with a win and a fourth. But that win came last month in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championships, when he bested a field that featured fellow BC Sprint competitors Dr. Venkman (second) and Straight No Chaser, who finished third. Imagination has a few clunkers on his resume; he's 1-for-his-last-8 and missed the board in three of those. But his form, connections (Bob Baffert) and comfort all point north.

Breeders' Cup Sprint long shots

Two others bear noting: the filly Kopion (7-2), who passed up a spot in the Filly & Mare Sprint where she would have been the favorite, and Banishing (15-1), who has won two of his last three races and finished second in the third. But he raised eyebrows for a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Derby undercard, when he lost by a neck to BC Classic runner Mindframe, finished in a dead-heat with Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile favorite Nysos, and beat two other Grade 1 winners: Book'em Danno and Mullikin.

🗓️ Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup schedule

Here is Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup race schedule at Del Mar:

❓ Breeders’ Cup FAQs

What are Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Races?

Saturday at the Breeders’ Cup is Christmas for horseplayers. The card features nine races of varying lengths, surfaces, and genders that bring horses from all over the world. Headlining Saturday’s races is the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which sends many of the best 3-year-olds and top older horses a testing 1 1/4 miles. Winning the Classic brings immortality, along with a likely Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year.

When is the 2025 Breeders’ Cup?

The 2025 Breeders’ Cup features five races Friday, Oct. 31 and nine races Saturday, Nov. 1.

Where is the 2025 Breeders’ Cup?

The 2025 Breeders’ Cup is at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., north of San Diego.