Across the pond, a date with destiny at Del Mar awaits, and the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships are just around the corner. While the Kentucky Derby may well be the most popular race stateside, it’s the meeting’s marquee race, the Classic, which is the most lucrative and often the most exciting. As Halloween approaches, so too does the one-and-a-quarter-mile blitz.
With the race coming up quickly now, the official rankings have been announced. Will the frontrunners be able to live up to their lofty billing and stake their claim for the crown? Or will an underdog rise to spring the shock, just as rank outsider Arcangues did in 1993 as a whopping 133/1 long shot? Here are the four best-ranked front-runners with the marquee showdown fast approaching.
Sovereignty
A mark of 294 points is the headline, but the real story is the authority he’s wielded at every turn. Bred in the blue of Godolphin and moulded by William Mott, Sovereignty’s rise has been equal parts inevitability and spectacle. He stamped his authority with a Kentucky Derby win – 1.5 lengths ahead of the much-hyped Journalism in a contest that set a high bar for the Triple Crown season. At Belmont, he moved like a horse with destiny on his back, surging clear by three of Journalism – who had just won the Preakness- once more under Junior Alvarado, who has ridden him like an extension of his own will.
Sovereignty… again?! This horse is a PROBLEM. #BelmontStakes
pic.twitter.com/gL4LQU7nKQ— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) June 7, 2025
But it’s not just the big-race wins: his 112 Equibase Speed Figure in the Travers was a cold, statistical warning to rivals that he is not merely fast – he is relentless. In the Jim Dandy, gritted teeth and a nose-to-nose stretch duel only underscored his champion’s mentality. His multi-million dollar earnings say plenty about his class, but it’s the eye test – those fluent, economic strides, that unwavering front-end pace – that makes his rivals uneasy.
He arrives at Del Mar at a short price with racing betting sites, and for good reason. The latest horse racing at Bovada odds currently price the three-year-old as a 6/4 favourite, and any result other than a Sovereignty win would require something extraordinary.
Fierceness
Where Sovereignty blazes, Fierceness waits, stalks, and pounces like a tactician born. Second in the official pecking order with 338 points, he is the thinking man’s horse – capable, experienced, and ever dangerous on his best day. Todd Pletcher has nurtured his transition from champion juvenile to battle-hardened veteran, and 2025 has seen both steel and subtlety on display.
That Pacific Classic triumph – Del Mar’s acid test – saw Fierceness recover from a bruising gate incident, methodically reel in Journalism, and flash his closing engine with daylight to spare. The stopwatches recorded a ten-furlong 1:23.45; the formbook confirmed his affinity for Del Mar and his ability to handle adversity. Fierceness has two wins from four this year and a local advantage that is not to be underestimated. When the field swings for home, he will be the one lurking, gears still in reserve, ready if Sovereignty so much as thinks of faltering.
Sierra Leone
It is a measure of Sierra Leone’s stature that a third place in the rankings feels like sacrilege. He isn’t just a defending champion – he is, for some, the people’s horse, the poster colt for drama, patience, and the art of timing. 317 points suggest that he will be there or thereabouts by the time the runners head for home.
Chad Brown’s deep closer makes you wait – sometimes frustratingly so – but when the afterburners ignite, few spectacles in sport compare. Saratoga’s Whitney Stakes was a case in point: dead last and seemingly buried, unhurried beneath a wall of horses, only to erupt down the lane and snatch victory in 1:48.92. He’s seen adversity, too – trouble at the break in the Jockey Club Gold Cup before recovering to finish second, outkicked by a perfect Mindframe in the Stephen Foster.
His 2025 has been a study in consistency and character, but success at Del Mar demands mercy from the pace gods. If front-runners overplay their hand early, Sierra Leone is the executioner, wielding the fastest late fraction in the west. Should the race turn tactical or dawdling, though, his mountain gets steeper. The crowd will wait, hearts in mouths, for what could be his greatest encore.
Mindframe
Fourth in the rankings but probably the most dangerous dark horse on the cards. Seven career starts, and he’s never finished worse than second. For some, Mindframe is raw potential realised; for others, he’s the horse you never want loose on the lead in a high-stakes scenario.
Lightly campaigned by Todd Pletcher, his record this year is flawless: taking the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2), the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1), and – his magnum opus – the Stephen Foster in 1:47.48, the fourth-quickest time in race history. If Mindframe produces a repeat of his best fractions and gets his own way up front, he could expose flaws in the more celebrated trio’s armour. He may lack the headlines for now, but the stats – and his upward trajectory – command respect.
History Beckons
Every Breeders’ Cup Classic conjures a signature moment: Zenyatta’s impossible rally; Arrogate’s devastating drive; Gun Runner’s front-running masterclass. The 2025 renewal boasts four frontrunners with the credentials to get the job done. Now, a mighty purse and a permanent place in racing folklore await. The only certainty? Glory, heartbreak, and the kind of drama that only the Breeders’ Cup Classic can provide.
