When the final gate clanged shut and the last cloud of dust drifted across Del Mar’s Breeders’ Cup, the 2025 American racing season could look back on a run of drama and data that bordered on myth. In the showpiece Classic, however, it wasn’t the Star Spangled Banner that flew high. Instead, it was Japan’s Nisshōki, the Flag of the Sun, which was raised in California.
That’s because Forever Young made history in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, putting his country on his back to become the first Japanese victor of America’s most lucrative race. The entire build-up with online horse betting sites heading into the showpiece race centered around Sovereignty. The horse racing at Bovada odds heading into the race listed Bill Mott’s charge as the +150 to cap a stellar year with Classic glory in Del Mar, but after he was shockingly scratched on the eve of the race, the door was ajar for an underdog, and Forever Young bulldozed right through.
But even though it was the land of the rising sun that lived the American dream to close out the year, there were still plenty of Stateside-based horses that enjoyed blockbuster 2025s. Here are our picks for the most impressive American horses of the year.
Sovereignty
Every generation craves a horse that electrifies the calendar, burns hot, and leaves the sport changed in its wake. Sovereignty was all that—equal parts artist and arsonist, rewriting the projection models from his Santa Anita Derby curtain-raiser. Come Kentucky Derby Day, Sovereignty met the slop and chaos at Churchill Downs as a 6/1 underdog, fancied by some, but still a distant underdog behind heavy favorite Journalism. Even so, the three year old set about proving that he was the best in the country, taking full advantage of the testing conditions to claim a narrow one and a half length victory.
But it wasn’t the raw numbers—millions banked, five-for-six, IFHA dirt rating of 127, the global marker—that made Sovereignty the heartbeat of 2025. It was how he did it, masterfully skipping the Preakness to stalk bigger prey. At Belmont, he toyed with the stamina test, opening up to post a 122 Beyer in a race that shimmered with echoes of Justify and Secretariat, before upsetting Journalism again. Then came the Travers, where he showed he could be king even when pressed to his limits, stonewalling his storied rival by a neck.
Fate, though, is never entirely in your hands. A fever hours before the Breeders’ Cup Classic silenced the year’s defining storyline and robbed Sovereignty of the opportunity to bring the curtain down on the year with the biggest win of his career. Still, he remains our most impressive horse of 2025. Talk about a silver lining.
White Abarrio
If Sovereignty was lightning—gone before you could truly grasp him—White Abarrio was granite: enduring, relentless, almost geological in his accumulation of accolades. In an era obsessed with the new, this Saffie Joseph Jr.–trained iron horse reminded fans what seasoned class looks like on the clock and in the trenches.
The Pegasus World Cup was a tour de force, a wire-to-wire dissection yielding a 6¼-length margin and a 128 Beyer, the sort of run that made even the analytics crowd double-check their numbers. What followed was a relentless tour of excellence: a Ghostzapper win, runner-up in the Santa Anita Handicap, constant presence against the sharpest company. In every big spot, White Abarrio refused to flinch—third in the Whitney, a measured victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup, runner-up again in the Awesome Again, and finally, a tenacious third at the Breeders’ Cup Classic where, even fading late, he never capitulated.
Journalism
Every saga needs a foil, but Journalism was nobody’s supporting player. 2025 was supposed to be his year, topping the betting charts in both the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Once the racing got underway, it was clear that Sovereignty was his superior, but that doesn’t mean that this son of Curlin didn’t have his moments.
Second fiddle to Sovereignty at Santa Anita and again at Churchill Downs, Journalism recalibrated. The Preakness—always a chaos generator—saw him display pure racing IQ, darting through traffic under Umberto Rispoli to win by a neck, delivering a moment for the ages. He kept his sword sharp thereafter: on the board in the Belmont and Haskell, agonizingly close in the Travers (again, Sovereignty’s shadow by a neck), and finally, a king’s flourish with a Pennsylvania Derby waltz. Breeders’ Cup Classic? Fourth—gutsy without the hardware.
Five wins in nine, and plenty of prize money banked points to a stellar year. Plus, any horse that wins one of the fabled Triple Crown races always deserves a mention.
Locked
Some runners find the front and never let go—not by chance, but design. Locked, shepherded by Phil D’Amato for Juddmonte, was 2025’s unflinching pace dictator. The Santa Anita Handicap (G1) on March 1 confirmed the plan—an 8½-length rout via a 123 Beyer, replicating the kind of daylight between horse and rival that stops the press.
No matter the circuit—second in the Pegasus, defiant in the Hollywood Gold Cup, and Awesome Again—Locked dared competitors to match him stride for stride. And few could, for more than a mile at least. Five wins and an artillery of wire-to-wire triumphs made him a numeric and narrative force—part Lava Man, part modern sprinter, built to play offense on any stage.
