Breeders’ Cup Winners 2025
We have already covered the Breeders’ Cup Classic in some detail, but Forever Young wasn’t the only impressive winner on Saturday night at Del Mar. He is my review of some of the other Breeders’ Cup winners and what the data can tell us about their performances.
PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint - Splendora
Flavien Prat is unlikely to ride too many winners like this at the Breeders’ Cup. A winning margin of 0.86s or four and three-quarter lengths probably doesn’t do justice to how dominant this performance was from Splendora. A long ranging stride which reached a race peak average of 26.92 ft (ranked 1st) certainly helped her cause, but having sat in touch behind the 3-way battle for the lead in the early stages, it was the manner with which she asserted in the home straight that really caught the eye. Once asked to quicken, the response was instant as she made her ground on the shoulders of the early leaders before quickening clear, finishing her race with furlongs of 12.15 and 12.26s, both of which were the fastest in the field. In each of the 7 furlongs of the race, Splendora recorded the longest average stride length in the field and whilst we may be able to point to the fact that the late scratching of Sweet Azteca and Tamara made this task a simpler one, it seems unlikely that either of them would have beaten Splendora in this form. The Del Mar track clearly suits this daughter of Audible and Saturday afternoon’s victory took her record to a perfect 4 from 4 at the California track. It’s not impossible to think that she may yet have more to come, a fact backed up by the fact that her run-out speed of 35.12 mph, another race best figure, was 2.61 mph faster than anything else in the field.
CYGAMES Breeders’ Cup Sprint - Bentornato
The only point in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at which Bentornato recorded the fastest furlong was in the opening split, but that was the key point. Irad Ortiz drove his mount forward from the gate to get across from stall 10 and more importantly to hold the rail into the far turn. That opening furlong of 11.20s was the biggest reason that I can find to explain this victory. The runner-up in this race 12-months ago, it has been a very quiet year for Bentornato but the return to Del Mar has paid dividends and unlike 12 months ago, where she faced competition for the early lead, she was able to save ground and control the pace from the front. A peak average stride length of 25.61 ft certainly helped, but the key to this performance is the early speed. The 44.81 mph top speed recorded by Bentornato was a race best figure and that allowed him to get into the right position. Once into the home straight, he maintained his average stride frequency figure above 2.3 per second and found enough to gallop on and win by two and a quarter lengths. A run-out speed of 35.32 mph, although ranked 4th, was within 3% of the race best 36.55 mph recorded by the 3rd placed Dr. Venkman. To have achieved all this, having run such a rapid opening furlong in a race run with a finishing speed of 94.9% made this one of the performances of the meeting.
Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile - Nysos
Not every success at the Breeders’ Cup was about class and if I were to use a few words to describe the victory of Nysos in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, then those words would be “Power and Determination”. I should start by discussing the unlucky 2nd Citizen Bull. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner has a superb record at Del Mar and as they rounded the turn for home, it appeared as if he was going to get the better of his stablemate. Nysos had other ideas. Despite the fact that he also failed to run the fastest individual furlong at any point in the contest and the fact that Citizen Bull had the much higher top speed figure, Nysos grinded his way to the front to get his head down on the line when it mattered. His stride length reached a race peak of 26.75 ft, that was 1.64 ft longer than the race peak of 25.11 ft reached by Citizen Bull and 0.59 ft longer than the next best figure in the field (Tumbarumba 26.16 ft). Nysos used that long stride to wear down his stablemate in a race that became a match between the pair of them. We should spare a thought for the runner-up, whose individual furlong splits were never more than 0.16s slower than Nysos over the final half a mile and having set fast fractions in a race run with a 92.5% finishing speed, he has produced close to a career best. If the race had been 10 yards shorter, the result would have been reversed. However, Nysos has now won 6 of his 7 career starts and clearly has stamina in abundance at this trip. Bob Baffert stated that his original plan had been to run Nysos in the Breeders’ Cup Classic but that a bruised foot meant that he had to miss his intended prep run in the Pacific Classic and as a result they chose to come here. We can’t say whether he would have won the Classic and no decision has yet been made as to whether he will remain in training, but if he does, on this evidence he would surely be competitive if he came back for the Classic in 2026.
Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf - Gezora
With the possible exception of Aidan O’Brien, there are few trainers who have enjoyed a year like the one that Francis-Henri Graffard and his team have put together. He added yet another Group 1 success to his 2025 CV with Gezora, who bounced back from a disappointing run in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe to round off the Breeders’ Cup meeting with an impressive performance in the Filly and Mare Turf. Settled perfectly by Mickael Barzalona, she raced behind the pace before responding generously to her riders encouragement to run down She Feels Pretty in the closing stages. This was a victory earned in spite of the data. At no point in the contest did she run the fastest individual furlong split in the race. Her average stride length (24.15 ft) ranked 5th, her average stride frequency (2.29 per second) was 7th, her top speed (39.39 mph) ranked 10th and despite a strong finish, even her run-out speed of 36.93 mph was 2nd. This was a perfectly judged ride by Barzalona, who has been such a key part of Francis-Henri Graffard’s success in 2025, as he maintained an even pace, keeping a variance of less than 4% in her average stride frequency figures once into position at the end of the first furlong (2.33 per second peak, 2.22 per second final). Holding that pace meant that Gezora was in the perfect position to make her challenge around the home turn and although not the fastest in the field, it is worth adding that her final 3 furlong splits all ranked 2nd. More importantly, she had enough left to run down She Feels Pretty, taking 0.51s out of the runner-up over the final 3 furlongs. This was a similar performance to the manner with which she won the Prix de Diane earlier in the season. This was the 13th G1 success for Francis-Henri Graffard, which means he has now equalled Andre Fabre’s record for a French trainer in one calendar year, set all the way back in 1992.