Top 10 races of 2025

Highlights have been aplenty in the racing world in 2025, so choosing the top 10 races of the year isn’t easy.

However, some races stand out: for quality, drama, and sometimes plain shock. So here are 10 of the more memorable races of the year.

10. Personal Ensign (G1)

We didn’t see the best of champion 2024 filly Thorpedo Anna in 2025. But she still gave us a couple of great memories, and none were better than this stirring battle with Dorth Vader at Saratoga. It may have taken too much energy out of her, as she was well beaten at her next start, but this was a wonderful way to remember her.

9. Sussex Stakes (G1)

All eyes were on three-year-olds Field of Gold and Henri Matisse and four-year-old Rosallion in this time-honored mile at Goodwood. The teams behind Field of Gold and Henri Matisse were sufficiently concerned about tempo that they brought in pacemakers, Qirat and Serengeti, respectively. But if anybody told Qirat he was only there to set the pace, he didn’t listen. While Serengeti faded as expected, Qirat kept going and ended up scoring a shock Group 1 victory at odds of 150-1.

8. Empire Rose (G1)

Unlike Qirat, there was no surprise that Australian mare Pride of Jenni would go out to a big lead in the Empire Rose. But as she has shown several times – most notably in the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) – she is very hard to peg back. Her opponents know what’s going to happen, but many times they can’t get to her. I’m a sucker for a dashing front-runner, and none are more spectacular than Pride of Jenni, who won this race for the second time in three years.

7. Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1)

Many expected the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to be the culmination of a superb year for top Irish filly Minnie Hauk after victories in the Cheshire, Epsom, Irish, and Yorkshire Oaks. As it turned out, she did her connections proud with a great effort. But try as she might, she couldn’t put away the Aga Khan’s three-year-old Daryz, who just got the upper hand in the final yards of a gruelling race on heavy ground. The distance they put on the rest of the field highlights how grand their duel was.

6. The Everest (G1)

The world’s richest turf race went truly global in 2025 with the arrival of Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising, the world’s highest-rated sprinter. There were some doubts about how ready he was to tackle the best sprinters in Australia after an average barrier trial two weeks before the US$13.4 million race. But on the day, jockey Zac Purton got Ka Ying Rising into a perfect position, and though he wasn’t as dazzling as he had been in Hong Kong, he still had too many guns and proved his international mettle.

5. Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1)

Along with some great performances, there were some absolute shock results in major races around the world in 2025. Though it may not have been as outlandish as some by betting odds, the Breeders’ Cup Turf was one of those shocks; nobody expected Ethical Diamond, a horse that hadn’t run in a graded stakes race on the flat, to beat the likes of Minnie Hauk and Rebel’s Romance. But unlike the aforementioned Sussex Stakes, in which the pacemakers were ignored, there was nothing lucky about his victory, as he outfinished several well-established performers to score at 34-1.

4. Kentucky Derby (G1)

Anticipation is always high for the Kentucky Derby, for good reason – it’s where up to 20 horses that have been running in different states (and countries) meet to see who is the best at 1 1/4 miles. This year was fortunate, as it highlighted three top-class sophomores who would prove themselves time and time again – Baeza, Journalism, and, most notably, Sovereignty, who would go on to win the Belmont (G1), Jim Dandy (G2), and Travers (G1). It was a great rendition of the Derby, and won by a very, very good horse.

3. Japan Cup (G1)

Japan has become one of the world's leading producers of racehorses, particularly since the arrival of Kentucky Derby hero Sunday Silence in the early 1990s, which revolutionized its breeding industry. One result has been that the locals have been nearly impossible to beat on their home soil in their flagship international race, the Japan Cup – partly because the late November date and very firm tracks haven’t suited foreigners, but mostly because the locals are so good. But in 2025, for the first time in 20 years, a European raider won. But Calandagan had to be very good, only getting up late in a stirring contest with Masquerade Ball.

2. King George VI Steeplechase (G1)

You don’t expect three-mile steeplechases to produce finishes as close as this one, let alone in the biggest mid-winter event in English jumps racing. But at the last fence of the King George VI Steeplechase on Dec. 26, four horses jumped together, and at the line, three of them were in a photo finish, in which The Jukebox Man bravely stuck his nose out for victory. If you don’t enjoy this race, there’s something wrong. 

1. Saudi Cup (G1)

The richest race in the world can easily be an anti-climax, especially if the top horses in it don’t run to their best. As it turned out, the exact opposite happened in 2025. Japan’s Forever Young and Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior dominated the market, and the latter, running for the first time on dirt, looked to have the race won when surging to the front with a quarter mile to go. But Forever Young simply wouldn’t give up, and he gradually caught a horse that very few ever catch, going on to win by a neck. Both horses would have notable victories to come late in the year – Forever Young, the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), Romantic Warrior, a fourth Hong Kong Cup (G1) – but this race was the one that will stick most in the memories of those who watched it.