The 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic field is set and the race will be the crown jewel of the two-day world championship event at Del Mar. The 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic purse has been raised to $7 million and several of the top horses in the world will run. Forever Young nearly became the first Japanese horse ever to win the Kentucky Derby, finishing third in the Run for the Roses, and now he’ll return to America after winning the Japan Dirt Classic earlier this month. Forever Young is 6-1 in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic odds, while Irish-based City of Troy is the 5-2 favorite with five graded stakes wins to his name overseas. The latest 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-60s.
Top American three-year-old Fierceness is 3-1 among the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic horses coming off a Travers Stakes win. The 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic post time is 5:41 p.m. ET. You’ll want to see what SportsLine’s Jody Demling has to say before entering any 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic picks or horse racing predictions of your own, considering his spectacular track record.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling enters the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic having nailed the Derby-Oaks double 11 of the last 16 years. He also predicted the winner of the Belmont Stakes four of the last seven years and called 10 of the last 20 Preakness winners, including 2023 when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta as well as the trifecta in 2024. He also nailed Flightline’s win in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Now, with the Breeders’ Cup Classic 2024 approaching, Demling is sharing his picks and predictions over at SportsLine. Go here to see them.
Top 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic predictions
One of Demling’s surprising 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic picks: He is fading three-time Grade 1 winner Fierceness (3-1), one of the top 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic favorites who recently won the Travers Stakes. Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, Fierceness has five wins in eight career starts and he went off as the favorite in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, his biggest start to date.
However, Fierceness hopped at the start and then didn’t handle running three-wide very well before finishing a distant 15th. He’s since followed that up with wins in the Jim Dandy and the Travers but hasn’t faced the level of competition he’ll face on Saturday since his disappointing run at Churchill Downs. He’ll look to go to the front early but that is easier said than done against a talented 14-horse field.See which horses to pick here.
Another surprise: Demling is high on Ushba Tesoro, even though he’s a hefty underdog at 12-1. The 7-year-old has 35 starts under his belt, and dirt races around this distance appear to be his favorites. He’s won seven of his last nine dirt starts at or near 1 1/4 miles, including the 2023 Dubai World Cup, the richest horse race in the world. “He’ll be running in the end,” Demling told SportsLine of Ushba Tesoro.
In addition to experience, the horse also has pedigree on his side. He’s the son of Orfevre, who won the 2011 Japanese Triple Crown and was the 2012 Japanese Horse of the Year. Ushba Tesoro has finished first or second in 10 of his last 11 starts, the one outlier being his Breeders’ Cup Classic debut last year. He finished fifth but gained valuable experience and made a late charge to finish just 3 1/2 lengths behind the winner. At 12-1, Ushba Tesoro is a low-cost but potentially high-reward horse to back in 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic predictions. See which horses to pick here.
How to make 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic picks, bets
Demling just locked in his picks for City of Troy, Sierra Leone and every horse in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic lineup. He is also high on a massive double-digit underdog who “has a big chance to spring the upset.” Demling is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic leaderboard, over at SportsLine.
Who wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic 2024, and which longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Demling’s picks for the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic, all from the expert who nailed the 2022 winner, and find out.
