Breeders' Cup Classic 2024: Forever Young is good enough to beat older

Rowan Ward
By , Updated on: Oct 31, 2024 12:00 AM
Breeders Cup Classic Forever Young beat older

If you bet on horse racing, you cannot miss the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Saturday, November 2. The race is the richest of all the world championship races. It covers 1 ¼ miles on the dirt at Del Mar, and always draws a mix of sophomores from the Triple Crown trail, later-blooming 3-year-olds, and the top older dirt horses from all over the world.

Forever Young To win the Breeders' Cup Classic
Bovada
+550

Many all-time greats have won the Breeders’ Cup over the last four decades. Those racetrack heroes, and often breed-shaping sires, include Sunday Silence, A. P. Indy, Cigar, Curlin, Zenyatta, and American Pharoah, just to name a few. Keep reading to learn who is most likely to join this list, and to find out the best places to bet the Breeders’ Cup Classic online!

Breeders' Cup Classic Field

This is the official field for the 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning lines:

  1. Forever Young (Yoshito Yahagi / Ryusei Sakai) - 6/1
  2. Highland Falls (Brad Cox / Luis Saez) - 20/1
  3. City of Troy (Aidan O’Brien / Ryan Moore) - 5/2
  4. Mixto (Doug O’Neill / Kyle Frey) - 30/1
  5. Senor Buscador (Todd Fincher / Joel Rosario) - 30/1
  6. Derma Sotogake (Hidetaka Otonashi / Christophe Lemaire) - 20/1
  7. Ushba Tesoro (Noboru Takagi / Yuga Kawada) - 12/1
  8. Pyrenees (Cherie DeVaux / Brian Hernandez, Jr) - 30/1
  9. Fierceness (Todd Pletcher / John Velazquez) - 3/1
  10. Tapit Trice (Todd Pletcher / Irad Ortiz, Jr.) - 30/1
  11. Sierra Leone (Chad Brown / Flavien Prat) - 12/1
  12. Arthur’s Ride (Bill Mott / Junior Alvarado) - 15/1
  13. Newgate (Bob Baffert / Frankie Dettori) - 20/1
  14. Next (Doug Cowans / Luan Machado) - 8/1
  15. Rattle N Roll (Kenny McPeek / Jose Ortiz) - 30/1 - ALSO ELIGIBLE

Don’t forget that the morning-line odds are not guaranteed prices, but rather the track’s best estimate for the post-time odds on the race. They can be a helpful guide to woagering action, but an appealing morning-line price often plummets. Your best bet is to play the Breeders’ Cup Classic at an online sportsbook, since they let you lock in your price on major horse races at the moment you bet!

Odds at the top of the Breeders’ Cup Classic market at the top online sportsbooks are featured below:

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Breeders' Cup Classic Online Betting

Your choice of an online betting site can be difficult since there are so many classics out there. Make your decision easy and profitable by reading our expert reviews. They have the experience to give you trusted insight, and you will find the best online sports betting site for your needs quickly and easily.

Every site we recommend has the basics: market-leading odds, great user interfaces, and trusted payouts. Each one offers bonuses that benefit different bettors based on the type and stakes of bets they like to play. Take a few minutes now to find out which betting bonuses and promotions will benefit you the most. This can mean hundreds or even thousands of dollars in sign-up bonuses, deposit benefits, and horse racing rebates!

BovadaBetOnlineBetUS
City of Troy+200+220+190
Fierceness+350+400+400
Forever Young+550+500+550
Sierra Leone+1000+1200+1000
Next+1000+1400+1700

Breeders' Cup Classic Handicapping

With your wagering account at the ready, it is now time to dive into the field for the richest race at the Breeders’ Cup. Read on to get to know the best horses in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic starting gate.

Breeders' Cup Classic Top Contenders

The top contender in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is Forever Young. Though he is a sophomore facing older for the first time, he is a consistent horse who keeps stepping up whenever asked, and would be perfect in seven starts if he didn’t miss by two noses in the Kentucky Derby. He is adaptable from a pace perspective, he has true 1 ¼-mile stamina, and he knows how to handle a big field. These all make him formidable.

Forever Young To win the Breeders' Cup Classic
BetUS
+550

Though Fierceness has earned his reputation for being inconsistent, his effort in the Travers (G1) does more than anything yet to suggest that he is growing up. Before then, his races were all dazzling processions or absolute flops. In the Travers? Not only did he stay 1 ¼ miles, but he had to work for it and still got the job done. That’s the kind of horse who can shine on the biggest day.

Breeders’ Cup Classic Play-Against

The morning-line favorite is City of Troy. He is a top-class horse with stamina to spare, and he is a son of Triple Crown winner Justify. But, trainer Aidan O’Brien has not yet won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and City of Troy has never even raced on the dirt. He may be looking good in the mornings, but race day may be a different story. As the chalk, he is an underlay.

Breeders’ Cup Classic Exotic Contenders

Part of what makes the Breeders’ Cup such a good betting opportunity is that there are so many quality horses that good ones inevitably get ignored on the tote. So it is with Newgate. Trained by four-time Classic winner Bob Baffert, he has tactical speed that can keep even blazing West Coast frontrunners in range. He came close in his prep, the California Crown (G1), and a step forward makes him a huge overlay.

Forever Young To win the Breeders' Cup Classic
BetUS
+550

Two others to consider in exotics are Ushba Tesoro and Sierra Leone. Neither has been a prodigious winner this year, but both have continued to run to their company time and time again, getting pieces of the exotics against world-class horses. Being an older horse with plenty of experience against older horses, Ushba Tesoro is slightly preferred, but both should be good enough to merit inclusion underneath.

Free Breeders' Cup Classic Picks

You have your betting account set up and you know the field. Now it’s time for the best part of all: placing your bets on the Breeders’ Cup Classic! Here are your free expert picks for the race.

  • $20 to win - #1 Forever Young
  • $10 each way - #13 Newgate
  • $1 exacta box - #1 Forever Young, #9 Fierceness, #13 Newgate
  • $0.50 trifecta key - #1 Forever Young with #7 Ushba Tesoro, #9 Fierceness, #13 Newgate
  • $0.20 superfecta key - #1 Forever Young with #7 Ushba Tesoro, #9 Fierceness, #11 Sierra Leone, #13 Newgate

Meet the author

Rowan Ward

Rowan has been a regular at the Chicago tracks for over a decade and has also been to some of the biggest racing events including the Breeders' Cup, Kentucky Derby, and Woodbine Mile. Since then their writing has appeared in their own blog and across the horse racing in...

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