Breeders’ Cup Classic Notebook: An Update on Contenders & Sovereignty’s Scratch

Horse: Antiquarian

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: Luis Saez

Set: Approximately 6:30 a.m.

Morning Activity: Galloped 1 ¼m at Del Mar under exercise rider Edy Quinteros and gate schooled. Scheduled to school in the paddock today.

Planned Activity: Will go to the track for a routine gallop. Time TBD, but may return to usual 5:45 a.m. timing.

The Quote: The colt looks to be improving and establishing himself as a graded-stakes horse: “He is, physically and mentally. I’ve been driving from Boston to Saratoga every Friday to go watch his breezes and they were consistently getting better visually. Time is time, and Todd’s very consistent with the breeze times.

  “Interestingly, after the seven-furlong race, his first race at Gulfstream this year. We knew that seven furlongs wasn’t going to be a forte. Even after that race (which he won by 2 ½ lengths), when he crossed the finish line, Todd looked at me, and I looked at Todd, and he says, ‘Wow, he showed a lot more speed than I thought he had.’ He’s showing that in his races, because he’s been a little bit more forwardly placed. It’s just neat to see the individual improve and be on the incline at the right time.” – Don Little Jr. president and co-owner of Centennial Farms.

Horse: Baeza
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Jockey: Hector Berrios
Set: 8:10 a.m.
Morning Activity: Galloped on the main track, schooled in the paddock
Planned activity: Similar routine tomorrow
The Quote: Trainer John Shirreffs reported that all remains well with Grade 1-winner Baeza in the final days before the Classic.

“I thought he went very well,” Shirreffs said of the colt’s morning gallop over the Del Mar dirt. “He’s smart and he’s very classy, especially on the racetrack. He’s matured a lot.”

Baeza was set to face off against three-time Grade 1-winner Sovereignty in the Classic, but that rematch will have to wait for possibly another afternoon as Sovereignty was scratched from the race Wednesday morning because of a fever. Baeza ran second to Sovereignty in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes in July at Saratoga Race Course, and third to his familiar foe in both the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes this year.

“Ah, I’m just really sorry about that,” Shirreffs said of the key scratch. “I was really looking forward to the race with Sovereignty in it. It’s a little disappointing that he’s not in it.”

Shirreffs added that Baeza proved he belongs with the best of his generation after his admirable efforts this summer in top 3-year-old events, including the Jim Dandy.

“We were within two lengths of Sovereignty in the Jim Dandy, and I thought Baeza ran a terrific race,” Shirreffs said. “He broke from the one hole, so he never got a break during the whole race because for him to relax a little and drop back, he would have caught all the dirt, so he had to maintain his position all the way.”

Baeza was a bridesmaid no more last out, taking a Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby and living up to the expectations that have been placed on him since his older brothers, Mage and Dornoch, each won Classic races in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

“We wanted to win one of the Grade 1 races for 3-year-olds. We needed to do it some way, sometime, and we were running out of time,” Shirreffs said. “It was getting close to the end of the year, and the expectations on Baeza were pretty high, and he just had to come through. He ran a great day that day.”

Horse: Contrary Thinking
Trainer: Chad Brown

Jockey: Florent Geroux

Set: 6:30 a.m.

Morning activity: Galloped 1½m

Planned activity: Gallop 1½m

Quote: “I’m happy with the post (4). I think it shook out the right way. He’s in a good position.” — Chad Brown

Horse: Fierceness
Trainer:  Todd Pletcher

Jockey: John Velazquez
Set: Approximately 6:30 a.m.
Morning Activity: Galloped 1 ¼m at Del Mar under exercise rider Danny Wright and visited starting gate. Will school in paddock today.

Planned Activity: Will go to the track for a routine gallop. Time TBD, but may return to usual 5:45 a.m. timing.
The Quote 1: On the scratch of Sovereignty: “I feel bad for the connections and the racing public that was looking forward to seeing him run. It’s just one of those things as a trainer you hate to see that happen.” – Todd Pletcher.

“You put so much thought and effort into what you’re going to do training-wise, where you’re going to do your preparations when you’re going to ship, when you’re going have your last breeze and you try to cover every base and try to do everything just right and things like this can still happen.” – Todd Pletcher

Horse: Forever Young (JPN)

Trainer: Yoshito Yahagi

Jockey: Ryusei Sakai

Set: 7:45 a.m.

Morning Activity: Breezed in company with American Stage, 4f for 51.0

The Quote: “I thought his work might be too light by watching his breeze. His rider, Ryusei, said it was a good piece of work. Everything is going well so far, and we need to keep his condition until the race. We are here to win the Classic and I will leave it with my jockey.” – Yoshito Yahagi

“I checked his action on the final corner as it is crucial at a tight track, Del Mar. He moved well and it was perfect work this morning. This is a redemption against last year’s winner and runner-up. It is probably the last chance to beat both of them in a race so I would like to get everything out of him and become the champion in the world.” – Ryusei Sakai

Horse: Journalism
Trainer: Michael McCarthy

Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Morning Activity: Galloped 1m at Del Mar under exercise rider Marc Witkowski and visited the starting gate.

Planned Activity: Will gallop at a time TBD.
The Quote: On the scratch of Sovereignty: “I don’t think it’s good. I don’t think it’s ever good when a horse scratches. It’s unfortunate for the fans. It’s unfortunate for the connections. On big days like this, all you want to do is everybody to get the starting gate doing as well as they could possibly be doing and let them figure it out on the race track.” – Michael McCarthy

Horse: Mindframe
Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Set: Approximately 6:30 a.m.
Morning Activity: Galloped 1¼m under exercise rider Carlos Perez and visited starting gate. Will school in paddock today.

Planned Activity: Will go to the track for a routine gallop. Time TBD, but may return to usual 5:45 a.m. timing.

The Quote: On the bumping incident at the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup that knocked jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. out of the saddle. Stablemate Antiquarian won the race: “We were, first of all, very fortunate that he came out of the race relatively unscathed. It’s unfortunate that the whole thing happened and scary watching it. My biggest concern was that he was accustomed to doing his daily training on the main track and going on and off the quarter pole gap. And a lot of times when horses get loose they’re looking for their way back to the barn and the quarter pole gap would have been that way. I was scared that he might try to jump, jump the gate there, where he normally goes on and off. That was, that was sort of frightening. Once he once he cleared that, I could tell the outriders were in position to catch him, and then I could kind of return my focus to watching the race itself and seeing Antiquarian.” – Todd Pletcher

Horse: Nevada Beach

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Jockey: Mike Smith

Morning Activity: Galloped 1 1/2m

Planned Activity: Same as Wednesday

The Quote: On the scratch of Sovereignty: “Those things happen; it has happened to all of us. It’s disappointing to the connections that worked so hard to get him here. He was really doing well. That’s why we never relax until we put the saddle on. We are on pins and needles. A thousand things can go wrong.” – Bob Baffert

Horse: Sierra Leone
Trainer: Chad Brown

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Set: 8 a.m.

Morning activity: Galloped 1½m

Planned activity: Gallop 1½m

Quote: “Everything went well today. He looked great.” – Chad Brown

Horse: Sovereignty

Trainer: Bill Mott

On Wednesday morning around 7:30, Godolphin’s Sovereignty, the horse many thought was the one to beat in the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), was laying down in his stall on the Del Mar backstretch.

Normally, he would be up and breathing fire, ready to head to the track to train.

Not today. Sovereignty was sick. The leading contender for Horse of the Year, and the morning-line favorite for the Classic, was ruled out of the race by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott Wednesday morning.

The bad news started on Tuesday morning when it was announced that Sovereignty had spiked a fever the night before. After Sovereignty was treated with an anti-inflammatory, Mott had held out faint hope that the horse could recover in time for the race.

That hope disappeared when the fever returned Tuesday afternoon.

“If it didn’t go away, we were going to have a problem,” Mott said outside his office at Del Mar. “And it didn’t go away. “Neil (assistant trainer Poznansky) called me (Tuesday afternoon) and said it had jumped back up. We retreated him and, at that point, it’s not even a conversation. (Sovereignty) made the decision; that incident made the decision. That is what we said from the beginning; if he re-spiked, he would be out.”

Sovereignty, winner of five of six starts this year – including the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes – had been installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the Classic. He has, in all likelihood, wrapped up the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old male champion and would have been a shoo-in for Horse of the Year with a victory in the Classic.

“Yes, I feel sorry for him and, frankly, my staff … everybody was excited about it,” Mott said. “And the fans. I really think this horse was a fan favorite at this point and I feel badly that they are not going to be able to see him participate. I think a lot of people were really looking forward to seeing him run and seeing that race with him in it.”

Sovereignty’s next trip will be a flight to Kentucky, where he will spend time at Godolphin’s farm or a training center. When he will leave California has yet to be determined; it will be when it is deemed Sovereignty is well enough to travel.

“This can knock you out for a while,” Mott said.

Mott said he did not know what Godolphin plans to do with Sovereignty next year: retire him or bring him back for another season.

He could only speculate on how Sovereignty got sick. He had worked a half-mile on Monday and seemed fine after that.

“Something in the air? Another horse? Something in the stall? Who knows?” Mott said.

The disappointment was evident around the three stalls Mott has at Del Mar – the filly Scylla is running in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) on Saturday and Rocky the pony occupy the other two. It was quiet in the Mott corner of the barn, understandably so.

For Mott, he was not going to pout and feel sorry for himself.

“I will wake up tomorrow and I will go again,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know if it’s true, the saying that it was just meant to be. All I can do is think about that and maybe there is something to it. There are certain things that are out of your control.”