Timeform pick three American horses with the strongest claims at the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar.
Straight No Chaser – Breeders’ Cup Sprint
Straight No Chaser may be a six-year-old now, but he has few miles on the clock, never having had more than four races a year. He’s won seven of his thirteen starts, notably last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint where he raced in the first three throughout before edging ahead late on for a half-length win over Bentornato, with Mullikin back in third, both of whom are also back again this year. That was a career best from Straight No Chaser, but he raised his game further still on his first start this year when running out a clear-cut winner of the Riyadh Dirt Sprint on the Saudi Cup undercard.
Remaining in the Middle East, things went less well for Straight No Chaser in the Dubai Golden Shaheen where he ran no sort of race but reportedly resented the kick-back and returned slightly lame. Given plenty of time to recover, he made a satisfactory return in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in September, a race he won last year, when third behind Imagination and Dr Venkman. His draw in stall 12 isn’t ideal, but with that run under his belt, he can turn the tables on that pair and bid to become the fourth two-time winner of the Sprint.
Sierra Leone – Breeders’ Cup Classic
The Breeders’ Cup Classic may have lost its original favourite, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty who was scratched earlier in the week with a fever, but that still leaves a deep renewal where last year’s winner Sierra Leone now looks the one to beat. Twelve months ago, much of the focus was on City of Troy making his dirt debut in the Classic, but while he was soon struggling, victory went to the Coolmore partners’ other three-year-old, with Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone asserting close home having been held up off a strong pace.
In a light campaign this season, Sierra Leone returned to his best to win the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga but was left with too much ground to make up in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at the same track last time, which was won by Antiquarian who he meets again here. Sierra Leone also faces last year’s placed pair Fierceness and Forever Young, and with stablemate Contrary Thinking in the role of pacemaker, as in his last two races at Saratoga, Sierra Leone should again be rolling late granted his ideal pace set-up.
Nysos – Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
Bob Baffert runs three in the Dirt Mile, including Flavien Prat’s mount Nysos who brings an impressive strike-rate to the contest. Absent for over a year after winning his only start in 2024, the four-year-old has only been beaten once in six starts, on his return from that absence, when dead-heating for second in the Churchill Downs Stakes in May, a neck behind Mindframe who goes in the Classic.
Since then, Nysos has picked up a Grade 3 at Santa Anita and made it two out of two at Del Mar when successfully giving weight to all his rivals in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap in July, pocketed on the rail turning for home but ultimately winning easily once in the clear. A bruised hind foot meant that Nysos had to be scratched from the Pacific Classic, for which he had been favourite, later in the summer, but he should be primed for a big run here.
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