2025 Breeders’ Cup: Sires battle for all-time record

At the conclusion of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup, leading North American sire Into Mischief, European patriarch Dubawi, and dual-hemisphere celebrity More Than Ready joined Hall of Famer Curlin in a four-way tie for the most wins by their progeny at the championships.

Each stallion has celebrated eight Breeders’ Cup wins. Another North American influence, Tapit, is right on their heels with seven. 

The logjam at the top of the record book might well be broken during the 2025 Breeders’ Cup. Into Mischief, Dubawi, Curlin, and Tapit all have multiple chances to increase their totals.

Here’s the list of their successful progeny along with this year’s contenders:

Of those elite five stallions in Breeders’ Cup history, Curlin is the only one to win an event at the championships – the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). But other major sires do belong to the Breeders’ Cup-winning father-and-child club, and several could add to their stats at Del Mar.

Chief among them is Hall of Famer Ghostzapper, the hero of the 2004 Classic in record time, who currently boasts four Breeders’ Cup wins as a sire. The late Uncle Mo, the 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) champion, is responsible for three wins. Both sires are represented on Saturday.

Uncle Mo’s son Nyquist, who emulated him by winning the 2015 Juvenile, has sired two Breeders’ Cup winners himself. So has Hall of Famer Gun Runner, the 2017 Classic victor. Both have offspring on Future Stars Friday and Saturday. Speightstown, the 2004 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) champion, has one opportunity to bump his Breeders’ Cup total to three on Friday. 

Medaglia d’Oro, twice runner-up in the Classic (2002-03), and Kitten’s Joy, second as the odds-on favorite in the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1), have had far greater Breeders’ Cup results as sires. They’ve celebrated four wins apiece by their progeny. Quality Road’s forgettable Classic appearances resulted in a gate scratch (2009) and a last-of-12 finish (2010), but he, too, has registered four Breeders’ Cup wins at stud. 

Here's the list of sires responsible for multiple Breeders’ Cup winners, with the prospect of more to come at Del Mar.

Red-hot young sire Not This Time, who just missed by a neck as the 2016 Juvenile favorite, has numerous runners going to bat for his first Breeders’ Cup win. Most are in on Friday – Schwarzenegger and Cy Fair in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1); Time to Dream, Imaginationthelady, and Infinite Sky in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1); and Blackout Time in the Juvenile. But Not This Time also has Goal Oriented in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Rhetorical in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) on Saturday.

On Wednesday, a share in Not This Time just sold to John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa for $3 million, the top price at the Keeneland Championship Sale held at Del Mar. It would be no surprise if the Taylor Made stallion ends Breeders’ Cup week with at least one winner on his ledger. 

American Pharoah, who added the 2015 Classic to his Triple Crown-sweeping resume, has not had a Breeders’ Cup winner since Four Wheel Drive in the 2019 Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2). Juvenile entrant Mr. A. P. will try to give his sire a bon voyage present, as American Pharoah is set to stand in Japan in 2026. 

Mendelssohn, the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) hero and half-brother to Into Mischief, hopes to furnish a Breeders’ Cup winner. His son Third Beer will try to follow in his hoofsteps in the Juvenile Turf. Into Mischief and Mendelssohn’s half-sister, Hall of Famer Beholder, would join an exclusive club herself if daughter Tamara could take the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). 

City of Light, the 2018 Dirt Mile romper, has already furnished a winner in the 2023 Juvenile champion Fierceness. While Fierceness, last year’s Classic runner-up, aims to go one better on Saturday, City of Light has a couple of others who hope to join him on the Breeders’ Cup honor roll. 

Here’s the list of other Breeders’ Cup-winning sires with runners at Del Mar, with the stallions arranged in order of their progeny’s races.