Last two Kentucky Derby winners scratched from Breeders Cup

The Breeders’ Cup will be missing two of the biggest names in horse racing.

Sovereignty and Mystik Dan, the last two Kentucky Derby winners, were scratched from running at Del Mar Fairgrounds in California.

Sovereignty, this year’s Run of the Roses and Belmont Stakes winner, was officially scratched on Wednesday after catching a fever. He had been the early 6-5 favorite to win the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

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Sovereignty, with Junior Alvarado up, wins the 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. (Michael Clevenger and Christopher Granger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

It was announced earlier Saturday that the winner of last year’s race, Mystik Dan, would no longer run in the Dirt Mile, where the purse is $1 million, due to a flexion in the left ankle.

Last year’s Classic was won by Sierra Leone, who lost to Mystik Dan by a nose in the 2024 Derby. Sierra Leone finished third in that year’s Belmont Stakes and won the Whitney Stakes this past August in Saratoga. Sierra Leone will be running again on Saturday, aiming to become the first horse to win the Classic in back-to-back years since Tiznow in 2000 and 2001.

Mystik Dan #3, ridden by jockey Brian J. Hernandez Jr. crosses the finish line to win the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4, 2024, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

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The Classic field includes 2025 second-place Derby finisher Journalism (who won the Preakness and finished second at Belmont) and Mindframe, who was last year’s Belmont and Haskell Stakes runner-up.

The Dirt Mile field features White Abarrio, who won the Classic and Whitney in 2023.

Jockey Junior Alvarado reacts aboard Sovereignty (2), after winning the 157th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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The post time for the Classic is 6:25 p.m. ET, and the dirt mile is an hour and 20 minutes after that.

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