Aidan O’Brien Pre-Enters Nine Horses in 2025 Breeders’ Cup Races

by Roy Brindley, 23 October 2025

Record-chasing Aidan O’Brien is responsible for 12 of the Breeders’ Cup’s 207 pre-entries. Three of his nine-horse squad are double-entered.

Aidan O’Brien is set to become the Breeders’ Cup all-time most successful trainer. © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• Aidan O’Brien has a strong hand in his quest to break the Breeders’ Cup record.
• The Irish trainer’s Precise and Minnie Hauk have outstanding chances on form.
• Seeking a first Breeders’ Cup success, Andrew Balding could field four runners.
• The $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic has the hallmarks of an all-time great.

Aidan O’Brien has made a dozen pre-entries in six of the Breeders’ Cup’s 14 Grade-1 races scheduled for October 31 and November 1. The famous series, offering more than $34 million in prize money, will be staged at Del Mar, California, for a second successive year.

The Irishman has trained 20 Breeders’ Cup winners, making him the joint most successful trainer ever. O’Brien may not have to wait long to rewrite the history books. He has three horses entered in the series’ opening race, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

His candidates are Chevely Park Stakes winner, True Love, Middle Park Stakes runner-up, Brussels, and recent Champions Day scorer, Mission Central. Surprisingly, O’Brien has never won this contest, which was added to the calendar in 2018.

Digging up Another Juvenile Turf Winner?

O’Brien also has three pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. True Love has this contest as a second option. Precise, winner of the Group-1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Fillies Mile, appears the most obvious candidate. In her last two outings, O’Brien’s third potential runner, Beautify, has finished behind these stablemates.

Brussels is another double-entered horse. His name is featured in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf entry alongside O’Brien’s three-time Group-1 runner-up, Gstaad. It is a contest the fabled Ballydoyle stables have won seven times before, including the past three runnings.

Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Race Times

• 9.45 pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
• 10.25 pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies
• 11.05 pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
• 11.45 pm: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
• 12.25 am: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf

Minnie Hauk Is Evens to Fly Home

English, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks winner, Minnie Hauk, spearheads Aidan O’Brien’s attack on Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup card. Narrowly beaten by Daryz in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the UK’s betting sites quote the star filly on even-money odds to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Daryz HOLDS OFF Minnie Hauk to take the 2025 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 🏆

🇫🇷 @mickaelbarzalon @GraffardRacing pic.twitter.com/2n9UvNc78T

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) October 5, 2025

The three-year-old, with winnings shy of £1 million, does have an alternative engagement. She is also listed among the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf entries. Bedtime Story, a Group-1 placed filly, is a second O’Brien inmate pre-entered in this 11-furlong contest.

The final horse that could make the 5,000-plus mile journey to California to represent O’Brien’s County Tipperary stables is Queen Elizabeth II Stake runner-up, The Lion In Winter. He is an entry in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Rebel in Love With Breeders’ Cup

At the corresponding meeting last year, Starlust (trained by Ralph Beckett) and Rebel’s Romance (Charlie Appleby) scored for Britain. Magnum Force (Ger Lyons), Lake Victoria (Aidan O’Brien) and Henri Matisse (Aidan O’Brien) gave Ireland three winners.

The admirable Rebel’s Romance will attempt to win a third successive Breeders’ Cup race in 2025. He is one of six possible runners for Charlie Appleby, who has enjoyed eight Breeders’ Cup winners during the past four years.

Andrew Balding has yet to win a Breeders’ Cup race, but the Hampshire-based trainer has four strong candidates in 2025. See The Fire (Prix De l’Opera runner-up) is in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf; Jonquil (winner of a Group-3 and Group 2 in 2025) is amongst the entries in the ‘Mile’.

Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Race Times

• 7.00 pm: Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
• 7.41 pm: Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint
• 8.21 pm: Breeders’ Cup Sprint
• 9.01 pm: Breeders’ Cup Distaff
• 9.41 pm: Breeders’ Cup Turf
• 10.25 pm: Breeders’ Cup Classic
• 11.05 pm: Breeders’ Cup Mile
• 11.45 pm: Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
• 12.25 am: Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf

On the Friday/Juvenile card, Andrew Balding’s pre-entries are May Hill Stakes runner-up Pacific Mission and Humidity (Royal Lodge Stakes runner-up), who could take a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

The Classic Could Be an All-Time Classic

Currently, 191 horses are pre-entered for one or more of the Breeders’ Cup 14 Grade-1 races. Final fields will be revealed on Monday, October 27, with a draw for post positions later in the day.

The headline race, the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, could be an all-time classic with the top three from last year’s contest – Sierra Leone, Fierceness, and Forever Young – potentially meeting star US three-year-olds Sovereignty and Journalism.

The Breeders’ Cup official website states that more than 170 countries and regions worldwide will broadcast the action live. The listed UK broadcasters are ITV4, Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing.