Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (Grade 1)

BILL Mott walked back to his Land Rover after a raucous Saturday in Saratoga. Sovereignty had just silenced, more like stomped to smithereens, a two-race losing streak that had the world wondering.

The three-year-old champion dominated the Whitney for his first win of his four-year-old campaign, returning to the top of the older horse division. Long since enshrined in the Hall of Fame, Mott tried to place Sovereignty in the realm of Cigar, Royal Delta, Elite Power, Channel Maker, Cody’s Wish, Paradise Creek, the most elite horses of every genre of his iconic career.

“You know, I think the most difficult thing to get in a horse is the total package. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a good pony horse, there’s always something you’d like to change about him. You know? Very few horses have the total package,” Mott said.

“With each horse, you can pick them apart. ‘I wish he would do this. I wish he would eat a little better. I wish he wasn’t so tough to gallop. I wish he would do a little more in his training. I wish he wouldn’t get out. I wish he didn’t have bad feet.’ Then you get one like him and you’re getting pretty damn close to the total package.”

Package delivered

Eighty-five days later, in the waning light of a perfect, picturesque afternoon at Keeneland Racecourse, the package was delivered. The total package.

Godolphin’s homebred son of Into Mischief made his first start since that Whitney, after missing a scheduled start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup with an abscess in a hind foot - ‘I wish he didn’t have a bad foot’ - with a tour de force in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Ridden to perfection by Junior Alvarado, the four-year-old settled deliberately, moved determinedly and won decisively. The four-year-old son of Into Mischief earned $3.64 million to pass Mott’s most total package, Cigar, as the stable’s leading earner with $10,516,550.

As designed, stablemate Knightsbridge pounced to the lead from the outside. Japanese raiders T O Password and defending champion Forever Young slipped into stalking positions with Napoleon Solo opting to take back in fourth.

Sovereignty kindly settled into fifth. The Puma tracked him as Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo lagged in last. Leaving the backside, Alvarado angled Sovereignty four wide and waited, a paint by numbers playing out one simple stroke at a time. By the quarter pole, Sovereignty sauntered to the lead, opened up at will and easily staved off The Puma.

Knightsbridge held on for third. Sovereignty scored by a length and three-quarters, remaining unbeaten at the classic distance of a mile and a quarter, this one in 2m02.31secs.

Retiring on the spot, Sovereignty completed his career with eight wins, three seconds, a third and a fourth from 13 starts and surely his second Horse of the Year title.

“He’s got to be Horse of the Year, right?” Mott asked. “There’s nobody you could put in front of him.”

Yeah, the total package.

“It’s a relief because I know how good the horse is. If you think back to his races last year and if he would just repeat his Belmont performance, you would have to believe he was good enough to get the job done,” Mott said.

Tremendous run

“He really is very special. We might not see another one like that. You saw what he did. It was a tremendous run. He had a good year last year and we ended up this year great. He is a phenomenal horse. You beat a world class field, Forever Young, great horses, the best they could bring over here.

“He deserved this and he got them today. The Derby, the Travers, the Breeders’ Cup Classic…they are all important. But this was big today because there were some doubters. I think we proved our position. We proved what we needed to prove.”

As good as Sovereignty’s three-year-old season was – wins in the Fountain of Youth, Kentucky Derby, Belmont, Jim Dandy and Travers – there was still something to prove after he missed the Breeders’ Cup Classic with a fever.

Godolphin kept him in training and began to count backward from this year’s Classic. Losses in the Oaklawn Handicap and Stephen Foster to begin the year threw off the counting, a win in the Whitney reaffirmed, and then an abscess and a missed start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup questioned it yet again.

As champions do, Sovereignty came through in the last race of a two-day Breeders’ Cup bender. A final act. A total package.

Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf (Grade 1)

RYAN Moore kept the faith. And Benvenuto Cellini rewarded him. The three-year-old son of Frankel snapped a three-race losing streak in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Owned by Westerberg, Peter Brant, Sue Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, the chesnut colt rallied from 12th and switched from the rail, he raced through a gap in the final furlong to score by three quarters of a length, leading a European train of Map Of Stars, Diamond Necklace, Tiffany, Survie, Bay City Roller and Hotazhell. Yeah, the first seven, but who’s counting?

Aidan O’Brien earned his 24th career Breeders’ Cup victory to lead all trainers.

“He’s always showed enough class even as a two-year-old, but he’s such a beautiful mover. He loves fast ground,” O’Brien said.

“Ryan had him in a lovely position. He was very calm on him and very relaxed. He let it happen. I think he felt that when he did ask him, he was going to have it, but it looked like he gave him a brilliant ride. So delighted for the lads, really.

“These are special days, believe me. For us, it’s such a privilege to be a little part of the team. It’s a special day.”

Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (Grade 1)

STILL the fastest. Bacio continued his turf sprint world tour with another wire-to-wire act in the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Trained by Wesley Ward and ridden by Juan Hernandez, the son of Maclean’s Music won for the fourth time in four starts this year. Churchill Downs. Ascot. York. Breeders’ Cup.

Owned by MyRacehorse, Torie Gladwell, Deja Blue Stable, Jacob Shockley, Josh Messenger, Valerie Dailey and Joshua Hanna, the three-year-old colt was sent off second choice behind Comanche Brave. The Irish-bred finished in a dead heat for fourth behind the runaway winner.

The Bacio tour is far from finished.

“This is a special horse. He’s very quick and agile like a cat,” Ward said. “I didn’t really celebrate until one jump before the wire. Then I was really happy, and Juan rode a great race and here we go.”

Intital plans to go Australia in February for the Black Caviar Lightning have been shelved.

Ward said to TDN midweek: “The negative to that is that after going all that way and having to come home, it would probably impact his spring and early summer schedule. ... We’d have to centre on a late summer campaign to get him back going. So, we’re not going to go. He’s only three. Maybe we can go next year.” Current plans do include bringing him back to Royal Ascot for the King Charles III Stakes.

Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (Grade 1)

FURTHER Ado proved his affinity for Keeneland by nosing out Owen Almighty in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Owned by Spendthrift Farm and trained by Brad Cox, the three-year-old son of Gun Runner improved his Keeneland record to 3-for-3. Flavien Prat, on his way to the Shoemaker Award as leading jockey, was aboard for the nose decision.

“We thought we had lost it. Everybody had our heads down, and the camera is ahead of the finish line, so it looked like he may have lost the bob, and everybody was excited with the other horse, and that had to be tough for them. I feel bad for them,” Spendthrift’s Eric Gustavson said. “And then the camera on track was going to the jockey on the other horse, so we had resigned ourselves. And then it turned around.

“That was quite a roller coaster of emotions to think we had lost and then to find out that we had won. That was unbelievable.”

Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (Grade 1)

A FORMFUL Saturday began with favourite Ways And Means cruising to an effortless win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

A rare homebred for leading American owner, Klaravich Stable, the daughter of Practical Joke drew off to win by six and a quarter-lengths for Flavien Prat and Chad Brown.

The five-year-old mare completed her career with eight wins from 14 starts and $2,157,500. Two days later, she topped Fasig-Tipton’s Night of the Stars sale with a $5 million bid by Boyd Racing.

“This filly has been an incredible talent since the first time she stepped into the barn,” Brown said. “She’s had her share of breaks.

“You can see in her form. She’s had various different setbacks and injuries, and it’s taken an incredible team to keep her healthy and get her here.”

Makers Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade 1)

KATHYNMARISSA stood up for the home team, running down Gimme A Nother to win the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

The Kentucky-bred daughter of American Pharoah improved her 2026 record to four wins from five starts for Chad Brown, owners Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso and jockey Jose Ortiz. Favourite Blue Bolt never got untracked, winding up 11th. The winner sold for $3.2 million to Katsuma Yoshida at Fasig-Tipton two days later. Willie McCreery’s Jancis and Billy Lee were the best of the Europeans in third with Precise only seventh.

“Today I’m getting messages from friends and clients about ‘Did you see the Euros went one through seven here’ and ‘one through five here’ and ‘grass racing is over in America’ and gloom and doom. I was like, ‘Well, yeah, it wasn’t a good day for the Americans yesterday on our home turf,’” Brown said.

“But I just had a feeling today, again, going back to the distance and the dimensions of this track and how it plays, and I’ve had tremendous heartbreak in the shadow of the wire with Rushing Fall and In Italian who were absolutely home here.

“You can have great form, but you have to have tremendous stamina on this course and this trip.”

FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile

Presented by PDJF (Grade 1)

TAKE that. Deterministic avenged a loss to Notable Speech in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile back in September with a flawless performance in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Drawing the inside post, the five-year-old son of Liam’s Map used that to his advantage, establishing a stalking spot, getting first run and lasting over a troubled Notable Speech. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche, the most likeable jockey in the room, had his first Breeders’ Cup win.

Owned by St Elias Stable, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable, Deterministic won for the 11th time in his 18th start for his second Clement.

Originally trained by the late great Christophe, the five-year-old won his sixth race from seven starts with Christophe’s son Miguel.

Special family. Special horse. Special win.

“He’s meant the world to us. He gave us great happiness in a dark part of our lives, and he means a tremendous amount to a lot of people. It’s very rewarding for us to have our first Breeders’ Cup with him,” Clement said.

“He’s been top class for two seasons now. I thought he was the best turf horse last year and this year as well, if not just in America, but maybe even the world. I’m just delighted we were able to pull it off today.”

Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Grade 1)

JOSE Ortiz took a long, anguished look strides before the wire in the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

The jockey, aboard favourite Englishman, saw T O Elvis swooping like an eagle on a rabbit. Heartache.

The Japanese raider returned to Kentucky for the first time since winning the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Sprint in May. Owed by Ozasa Tomoya and trained by Daisuke Takayanagi, the Kentucky-bred son of Volatile won his fifth consecutive race by ousting a game, front-running Englishman.

The runner-up finished four lengths clear of the rest but Ryusei Sakai had timed it perfectly.

“I expect the horse is going to be a very historical horse among the Japanese sprinters and perform well worldwide,” Tomoya said. “That’s what I’m expecting now.”

Reasonable expectation.

Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (Grade 1)

WAY back in August, Mark Casse summed up Sovereignty. And Nitrogen. “Sovereignty is an amazing horse. Because he beat an amazing horse.”

That was after the Whitney when Sovereignty bettered Nitrogen. Three months later, both horses continued to prove Casse’s adage at the Breeders’ Cup.

Nitrogen stalked and pounced to win the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff for Casse, D J Stable and Jose Ortiz. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro secured her 10th career win while turning away second choice Fully Subscribed with another drifting-out-late victory.

“She’s just been unbelievable. This summer in the Whitney to run so good against colts was amazing,” Casse said. “We flirted with maybe the Classic, but when the (owners) told me she’s going to run another year as long as she’s happy and healthy, I said, well, ‘She needs the Breeders’ Cup win. Maybe that’s why I was emotional.

“We’ve had an unbelievable year, but if she’d gotten beat, I don’t know if it would have been as good a year. I wanted it for her. We’ve won a few Breeders’ Cups, but she hasn’t, and she deserves it.”