Price plays for 2025 Breeders' Cup Doubles

If you're standing against one or more favorites over Breeders' Cup weekend, win bets on others are an obvious way to put that opinion into action. Another path, and potentially more lucrative, is to fade those same favorites in the double pools.

There will be rolling double wagers throughout the two-day stand at Del Mar on Friday and Saturday, with minimums set at $1. Deciding which sequences to play will be up to the individual bettor, but exploiting the pools involves more than just not using the favorite. You also have to find viable contenders at a price.

Here are a few contenders I'll be using in my double wagering plans over the weekend.

Friday

Race 8: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), 7:05 p.m. ET

In a race that U.S.-based fillies have won far more than they've lost to European raiders, #1 Ultimate Love (8-1) might arguably be the best of the American contingent. A strong winner of all three starts in the Mid-Atlantic region, she capped her preparation with a decisive win in the Selima S. at Laurel, which has yielded a past winner of this race in Sharing.

A Florida-bred, Ultimate Love is by Curlin and counts as her third dam the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) heroine Urban Sea, who went on to produce the legendary half-brothers Sea the Stars and Galileo. By most measures, Ultimate Love is a serious contender in a race in which Irish raider Precise will attract a ton of play.

Race 10: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), 8:25 p.m. ET

Gstaad will be hard to beat for Coolmore and trainer Aidan O'Brien, but locally-based #13 Hey Nay Nay (8-1) is not without merit. The John Sadler trainee has been eye-catching in all three wins to date, including the Tyro S. at Monmouth and the Del Mar Juvenile Turf (G3) over this course and distance two months ago.

Like Gstaad, Hey Nay Nay will have to overcome a wide draw, but he has the speed to do so and might work out a favorable stalk-and-pounce trip. Whether he has the class to fend off Gstaad remains to be seen, but he's the one for me in doubles.

Saturday

Race 6: Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), 4:21 p.m. ET

Trainer Richard Mandella has the star filly Kopion as his leading contender here, but the Hall of Famer has also expressed plenty of enthusiasm about the California-bred #5 Big City Lights (15-1).

Although he hasn't run with great frequency, Big City Lights has won at the Grade 3 level and was a sparkling victor of the California Cup Sprint when last seen in January. Never out of the money in 13 career starts, Big City Lights has been working extremely fast for this comeback and doesn't seem out of place in a field that looks fairly wide open.