Daily Racing Form expert handicapper and analyst Marcus Hersh previews the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint 2025, including the entries, odds, and past performances of the field.
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American horses regularly race at the Royal Ascot meeting in England, but rare is the American horse who races competitively. The 2-year-old filly Lennilu did.
In the Queen Mary Stakes, a Group 2 run over a straight five furlongs, Lennilu pressed the pace and held admirably for third of 23. That showing and her whole body of work make Lennilu a player Friday in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Problem is, True Love, the horse who won the Queen Mary, beating Lennilu by 1 3/4 lengths, also has come to California for the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Ryan Moore, the world’s best jockey, would ride True Love had an injury in the fall not taken him out of action until January, but Moore did drop this nugget in a post-Queen Mary interview.
“She was a different class than them,” he said.
Yikes.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint will be Race 6 in your Friday Del Mar program with post time expected to be 5:45 p.m. ET on October 31.
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint 2025 Entries, Horses, Jockeys, and Trainers:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Brussels | C. Soumillon | A P O’Brien | 8-1 |
| 2 | Military Code | W. Buick | C. Appleby | 12-1 |
| 3 | Royal Testament | F. Prat | G. Weaver | 12-1 |
| 4 | Aspect Island | L. Dettori | J. Owen | 20-1 |
| 5 | Obliteration | J. Ortiz | S. Asmussen | 15-1 |
| 6 | Intricate Spirit | J. Rosario | M. Clement | 12-1 |
| 7 | Mission Central | D. McMonagle | A P O’Brien | 20-1 |
| 8 | Havana Anna | G. Ryan | D. O’Brien | 6-1 |
| 9 | True Love | W. Lordan | A P O’Brien | 7/2 |
| 10 | Cy Fair | I. Ortiz Jr. | G. Weaver | 6-1 |
| 11 | Schwarzenegger | J. Velazquez | W. Ward | 5-1 |
| 12 | Lennilu | L. Saez | P. Biancone | 8-1 |
| AE | Later Than Planned | U. Rispoli | P. D’Amato | 20-1 |
| AE | Should’ve | J. Rosario | W. Ward | 30-1 |
| AE | Bobrovsky | J. Alvarado | D. Romans | 15-1 |
| AE | Rogue Legend | F. Prat | W. Ward | 30-1 |
| AE | Bacio | L. Dettori | W. Ward | 15-1 |
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Moore had more to say. True Love showed sufficient speed to race just a few lengths off the lead in the Queen Mary, but her jockey predicted she’d excel over longer distances. True Love has since started in a trio of six-furlong contests. She won the Group 2 Railway, then took a step back, beaten at odds of 1-5 in the Group 1 Phoenix by Power Blue, a filly she’d thumped in the Railway, before rebounding with a major victory in the Group 1 Cheveley Park.
Her trainer, Aidan O’Brien, initially suggested True Love could make a Breeders’ Cup start in the Juvenile Fillies over one mile. Instead, she’s one of O’Brien’s three chances for a first Juvenile Turf Sprint win.
His other two entrants aren’t here just for fun. Mission Central, gelded after a disappointing debut in May, is a three-time winner, most recently capturing a rich new 2-year-old sprint stakes on the British Champions card at Ascot. Mission Central came from slightly off the pace that day but broke like a Quarter Horse, leading all the way in his first two wins.
Brussels, O’Brien’s third, at one point also ran races at a breakneck clip before settling comfortably into a stalking spot his last two starts. His fine second to favored Wise Approach in the Group 1 Middle Park stamps him as a legitimate contender.
True Love figures to be favored, and those looking to punch holes in her form will see she lost her only race around a turn. But the colt who beat her, Gstaad, is favored in the Juvenile Turf.
Christophe Soumillon, top rider for O’Brien in Moore’s absence, winds up on rail-drawn Brussels, apparently because making the 119 pounds True Love carries would prove a mighty struggle. Wayne Lordan, O’Brien’s well-established second jockey, rides True Love, with Dylan Brown McMonagle on Mission Central.
While True Love and Mission Central might go slightly better at six furlongs, Brussels suits five-furlong racing – though perhaps not as much as a filly trained by O’Brien’s son, Donnacha. Havana Anna was third behind Gstaad and True Love in that May 17 left-handed race at Navaan and has improved all season. Her trainer said after she won a listed five-furlong race in July that Havana Anna would get six furlongs. She almost did in the Cheveley Park, succumbing late to True Love, and Friday’s turnback to five-eighths helps her.
The Lennilu camp, trainer Patrick Biancone said, had two major goals after she debuted in April with a Keeneland dirt win followed by a sharp turf stakes score at Gulfstream Park – Royal Ascot and the Juvenile Turf Sprint. Biancone skipped a lucrative race at Kentucky Downs late this summer and kept Lennilu home in Florida, where she sat just off the pace and pounced on the wickedly fast colt Monster en route to a facile Sept. 27 victory in the Hollywood Beach.
“She’s very fast, but she’s better with one or two in front of her. She likes a target,” Biancone said.
Even so, Lennilu won’t fall far behind a high-speed tempo. With a short run to the turn, every jockey will leave the gate hunting position, those with speed using it to their best advantage. The fastest of the fast? Probably Schwarzenegger, trained by Wesley Ward, a three-time Juvenile Sprint winner.
Showing speed has proven no issue for Schwarzenegger. Rationing it has. Schwarzenegger ran off to a six-length lead in his debut, a Saratoga turf sprint, but emptied his tank, stuck his feet in the ground late, and got beat by a neck. Ward ran him back in the Indian Summer at Keeneland, and Schwarzenegger did better, leading at a slightly more measured tempo and winning by a diminishing half-length over Turf Sprint runner Obliteration.
Intricate Spirit also will race in the vanguard, his lone defeat in three starts coming over a testing 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs. Winning the six-furlong Futurity on Oct. 3 at Aqueduct, Intricate Spirit raced a half-length off a blistering half-mile.
“They went 43 and change!” trainer Miguel Clement said. “Five furlongs will be no problem. The shorter, the better for him.”
Aspect Island, trained in England by James Owen, is a colt who’s made remarkable progress since finishing eighth at 100-1 in his debut. He also has pace, but not enough to stick closer than a stalking position. He’ll be ahead of the other European runner, Military Code, a rare Breeders’ Cup longshot for trainer Charlie Appleby and jockey William Buick.
There’s also a pair of fillies trained by George Weaver, whose three runners in the 2023 Juvenile Turf Sprint finished fourth, sixth, and 10th, and whose lone entrant in the 2024 renewal, Governor Sam, was third. Royal Testament has an outside chance to run as well as Governor Sam. Cy Fair has a good chance to go even better.
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Both horses exit races that didn’t shape as Weaver expected. Royal Testament, a front-end winner of a Monmouth maiden turf sprint and the Rosies Stakes at Colonial Downs, had an awkward start Oct. 2 in the Matron at Aqueduct. She closed from fourth but was run down late by Final Accord over a six-furlong trip that probably stretched her.
“I didn’t want her to get too engaged on the pace, and then she kind of broke and tossed her head. I didn’t envision her being where she was,” Weaver said.
That was nothing compared to Cy Fair’s run in the Algonquin at Woodbine. Cy Fair dazzled in her debut, going to the lead and winning a Saratoga maiden turf sprint in such style that Weaver told the filly’s owners that Cy Fair could contend in the Juvenile Turf Sprint off that race alone. Caught between horses just off the lead in the Bolton Landing Stakes at Saratoga – and somewhat uncomfortable with her position – Cy Fair regressed slightly and was run down late by Snow Face Princess, who got a perfect trip.
In the five-furlong Algonquin, Weaver wanted no part of another pace battle but never expected to see Cy Fair bend into the turn sliding back to last of six. No worries. Spun wide for the stretch run, Cy Fair unleashed a furious kick, with a final furlong in 11.10 seconds propelling her to an easy 3 1/4-length score.
“All of a sudden, she just ended up back there. That wasn’t fun to watch, but it was pretty fun watching her in the stretch,” said Weaver, who has Irad Ortiz Jr. riding Cy Fair for the first time. “It’s hard to say, really, where she’ll be Friday. It’s good to know she doesn’t need the lead.”
What Cy Fair needs is luck, and she drew decently in post 9. Luck plays some part in those straight-course Royal Ascot races, though not nearly so much as it does around a sharp Del Mar bend. Lennilu, if she’s to reverse the finish with True Love, must work out a trip from post 12. That’s a lot to overcome, especially with a filly as good as True Love coming hard behind her.
