How to bet the 2025 Thanksgiving Classic Stakes

A field of nine will dash six furlongs on the Fair Grounds main strip in Thursday’s $175,000 Thanksgiving Classic S. I have a trio of contenders that I feel can win the race and will center my plays around the three of them.

Thanksgiving Classic Wagers

$5 exacta box 3,8,9 ($30)

$1 trifecta box 3,8,9 ($6)

The most interesting contender in the cast, to me, is the Chris Block-trained #8 Mondogetsbuckets (6-1). The Omaha Beach gelding didn’t show much in two runs as a sophomore, but the four-year-old has been excellent since arriving in this barn. The bay dons a 6-4-2-0 line this campaign, and while he has been facing easier for the most part, he continues to improve and has upped his Brisnet Speed figure in every start of 2025. He was a clear second in the Bet on Sunshine S. at Churchill Downs off the bench on Nov. 1 and will be quite dangerous with another move forward under Axel Concepcion. 

Stakes victor #9 The Wine Steward (7-2), one of two in the group for Mike Maker, has performed very well in his last pair of sprint outings, and I like the outside post for the colt. The son of Vino Rosso earned a robust 99 Brisnet Speed rating for his stakes tally at Aqueduct last time out, and the bay is also two-for-two at six furlongs, as well. He has enough early foot to stay within reach of the leaders from the break as well as the turn of foot to pass runners in the lane. Jareth Loveberry has the assignment and will have the New York-bred stalking the pace from the outset. 

#3 Wendelssohn (8-1) has been first or second in each of his handful of sprint tries on the dirt since joining the Hartman shedrow. The four-year-old colt was last seen finishing a creditable third in a turf dash at Keeneland after being off for more than six months, and has every right to improve second time off the bench. He possesses the quickness from the gate to get in range early, and if he can prove capable of firing big outside of Oaklawn, then I expect the bay to be right there late under Marcelino Pedroza, Jr.