Racing Roundtable: Recapping 2025 Breeders' Cup

The Racing Roundtable of James Scully, Vance Hanson, and Ashley Anderson debates Disco Time's future in the older dirt male division, who should win 2025 older dirt male honors, and the controversial results of past Eclipse Awards.

Brad Cox trainee Disco Time remained unbeaten in his fifth career start over the weekend when he romped to a 9 3/4-length victory in the Dwyer S. at Aqueduct. The Not This Time colt improved his season record to 3-for-3 and finished the season with a performance that could hint at an auspicious future in the older dirt male division in 2026.

As for the current division, it's up in the air who will come away with the 2025 Eclipse Award. Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) hero Forever Young could secure older dirt male honors after making just one North American start during his four-year-old campaign. But runner-up Sierra Leone, who scored a Grade 1 win in the Whitney (G1), and Pacific Classic (G1) hero Fierceness are also in the mix. Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) victor Nysos is a dark-horse candidate as well after ending his season with a 4-3-1-0 mark; his lone loss of the year — and his career — was just a neck second to Mindframe in the Churchill Downs S. (G1) when returning off a more than year-long layoff.

The recipient of older dirt male could spark some dissension, not unlike some other winners of older dirt male in years past. To close out the Racing Roundtable, Scully, Hanson, and Anderson name the former winner of the division who they deem most controversial. Among them is the 1997 recipient, Skip Away.