Breeders’ Cup Horses: Who Will Be Horse of the Year?

Key takeaways:

• The Breeders’ Cup remains the biggest decider in the Horse of the Year race, with nine of the last ten honorees competing at the event.
• Fierceness can claim Horse of the Year if he wins the Classic at Del Mar, adding to his Pacific Classic (G1) and Alysheba (G2) victories.
• Journalism needs a Breeders’ Cup Classic win over older horses to leapfrog Sovereignty and enter serious contention.
• Mindframe’s versatile Grade 1 wins from sprint to route put him in the mix, but only a Classic victory seals his case.
• Sierra Leone can repeat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and make history as just the second dual Classic winner, an accomplishment that could clinch Horse of the Year.
• Sovereignty’s scratch from the Breeders’ Cup Classic makes his bid for Horse of the Year more difficult, but with wins in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont, and Travers, he remains a favorite.

Though races all year long count toward the Eclipse Awards, no race week will have as much impact on year-end honors as the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar. Eclipse Award contenders have been racing all over the country, and even all over the world, often running on parallel paths. But, in 14 championship races across two days, the best from every division of horse racing will converge, and the Eclipse Award races will become clear.

No Eclipse Award is as prestigious as Horse of the Year, and the Breeders’ Cup has an impact on that race year in and year out. After all, nine of the last ten winners of Horse of the Year honors have raced at the Breeders’ Cup.

The Breeders’ Cup race with the most impact on the Horse of the Year race is usually the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Five of the last ten horses to earn that top award won it: American Pharoah (2015), Gun Runner (2017), Authentic (2020), Knicks Go (2021), and Flightline (2022). A sixth, California Chrome (2016), ran second behind champion three-year-old Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic but also won three other Grade 1 handicap-division races.

Three other recent Horse of the Year honorees won other Breeders’ Cup races. Bricks and Mortar (2019) won the Breeders’ Cup Turf to cap off an undefeated season, Cody’s Wish (2023) won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for the second straight year, and Thorpedo Anna (2024) won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The only Horse of the Year in the last ten years who did not race in the Breeders’ Cup was Justify (2018), who was retired after winning the Triple Crown.

Naturally, you can bet which horses will win their Breeders’ Cup races at FanDuel Racing. Also, discover 2025 Breeders’ Cup odds and bet the Breeders’ Cup with exclusive bonuses and promos.

Coming into the 2025 Breeders’ Cup, the race for Horse of the Year is wide open. Here are the leading contenders in that race, in alphabetical order.

Fierceness

Fierceness is already a Breeders’ Cup winner and a champion. He earned those laurels in 2023 as a juvenile. At three, though he became the first favorite of the points era to run out of the superfecta in the Kentucky Derby, he was back in the championship conversation by the end of the year after a thrilling defeat of Thorpedo Anna—the eventual Horse of the Year—in the Travers Stakes (G1). But, Sierra Leone ended his chances the moment he swept past Fierceness in the lane in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

But, if Fierceness can turn the tables and win the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2025, he puts himself in the discussion for both Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male. He began his four-year-old year with a dazzling victory in the Alysheba (G2), setting a new record for 1 1/16 miles over the dirt at Churchill Downs. He disappointed in a pair of starts at Saratoga: he couldn’t catch Raging Torrent in the Met Mile (G2), and weakened down the lane to finish fifth behind Sierra Leone in the Whitney (G1). But, a trip to sunny Del Mar for the major race of its summer meet made his championship chances start looking sunny again as well: in the Pacific Classic (G1), he overcame an erratic beginning to win as much the best, leaving Journalism a clear second best. If he runs yet another winning race at a mile and a quarter at Del Mar, that would place him at three wins on the season, including two at the top level, and one against one of the deepest Breeders’ Cup Classic fields in history.

Journalism

Journalism hasn’t been a long shot for much this year. After all, he stamped himself as the best horse in the west. He won the San Felipe (G2), and then overcame a troubled trip to win the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and favorite status for the Kentucky Derby. He couldn’t hold Sovereignty at bay, but he proved his class and his durability by racing at Pimlico two weeks later, overcoming an even more treacherous trip, and winning the Preakness Stakes by a hard-fought half length over Gosger. He was second to Sovereignty again two weeks later in the Belmont Stakes.

Their paths diverged from there. Journalism went to Monmouth Park for the Haskell Stakes (G1), where he beat Gosger again and earned his way to the Classic through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. His final prep for the Breeders’ Cup—and his first start against older horses—came in the Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar. He put in an honest effort, but ended up second best behind another Horse of the Year contender, Fierceness.

Going into the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he is still a long shot for Horse of the Year as well as even champion three-year-old honors, but a huge effort could put him in the conversation. He has to win, but if he does? He would have two races against older horses compared to Sovereignty’s none, and would have a win in a deep edition of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Mindframe

Mindframe is one of the best older horses of the year, and one of the most versatile. He started his season with an easy win in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2). That early-season score gave him all the tightening he needed to cut back to seven furlongs on Kentucky Derby day in the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1), face foes like Nysos and Book’em Danno and Mullikin, and win by a neck. The next month, he stretched out to 1 ⅛ miles for the Stephen Foster (G1). He won that by a length, beating a field that included Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone, Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, and Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Hit Show. It made Mindframe a Grade 1 winner at both one turn and two, and earned him a ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Saratoga, Mindframe’s final start before Del Mar, was over for him soon after the gates opened. He was caught in a chain reaction that knocked jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. off his back. Luckily, both Mindframe and Ortiz escaped unscathed, and he remained on target for the Breeders’ Cup.

With only four starts (and three finishes) leading into the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Mindframe likely has to win at Del Mar to have a chance at Horse of the Year honors. But, if he wins on Saturday? That gives him four wins, three at the top level, including a sprint and two at route distances. That record would stand well next to any of the top horses of the year.

Rebel’s Romance

If a horse coming out of a race other than the Breeders’ Cup Classic puts himself in Horse of the Year contention this weekend, that horse will be Rebel’s Romance. He would be an unorthodox choice for Horse of the Year, to be sure, though there is a rising trend of horses getting Eclipse awards for turf champion after just a single Breeders’ Cup win, Horse of the Year perennially goes to horses based in North America.

However, though Rebel’s Romance is trained by the England-based Charlie Appleby, Rebel’s Romance took his final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) at Aqueduct, making his foes look downright ordinary. If he topples Minnie Hauk and company to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf, that would be his second top-level victory in the United States this year. And, he would make history: he would become the first horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf three times, the second horse after Goldikova to win the same Breeders’ Cup race three times, and the third after Goldikova and Beholder to win three Breeders’ Cup races in general.

That would be more than enough to earn him champion turf male honors, the same award he won in 2024. Horse of the Year would still be a long shot given that he spent so much of the year bouncing around to Dubai, England, and Germany. But, if a surprise unfolds in the Classic, maybe Rebel’s Romance can spring the upset in the Horse of the Year vote.

Sierra Leone

Let’s be blunt: Sierra Leone needs to win the Breeders' Cup Classic to enter the Horse of the Year conversation. But, if he does? He rockets right to the top of consideration.

Most of his three-year-old year, he ran good races, but didn’t always get all the way there. But, at three, he won age-group honors by always holding his own against the best of his age group—and then getting to the wire first when it mattered most, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

At four, there’s a certain similarity to his past performances: nothing off the board, but not a lot of wins. He began his season third in the New Orleans Classic (G2), then improved to second behind Mindframe in the Stephen Foster. At Saratoga, he won a deep edition of the Whitney (G1) by a length, rallying from last to beat a field that included 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio and 2024 Classic runner-up Fierceness. Then, he ran second behind Antiquarian in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the best of any horse who was affected by the chain reaction soon after the start.

If he doesn’t win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the one win in the Whitney would make it hard for him to make a case for Horse of the Year. But, if he wins Saturday at Del Mar? He would become only the second horse to repeat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, after Tiznow in 2000 and 2001, and the racing experts who vote for Horse of the Year would have to consider the fact that he will have done something even the great Zenyatta couldn’t.

Sovereignty

Sovereignty was entered in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and named the 6-5 morning-line favorite. He looked like a similarly heavy favorite to win Horse of the Year if he ran to those odds and vanquished the likes of Sierra Leone, Fierceness, Forever Young, Journalism, Baeza, Mindframe, and more. But, he came down with a fever and was declared out of the Breeders’ Cup on Wednesday.

Even with having to scratch from the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he has a strong argument for champion three-year-old honors. He won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, with Journalism and Baeza chasing him down in second and third both times. He defeated Baeza again in the Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga, well within himself. He won the Travers by ten lengths, as easily as he wanted. Even if Journalism or Baeza were to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, there’s enough head-to-head form to make Sovereignty a serious contender for age-group honors. But, his road to Horse of the Year got a lot tougher without a Breeders’ Cup race, without a single race against older horses.

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