Stakes Ahead at Top-rated tracks in Del Mar and Santa Anita
Elle
Nov 14th 2025
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The spotlight moves to California after a top-rated tracks in 42nd Breeders’ Cup in the books, and only a few Grade 1 events are left on the calendar. After the 42nd Breeders’ Cup, the focus turns to the last weeks of the year at Del Mar horse racing and the usual festive racing season kickoff at Santa Anita. The last quarter of 2025 offers significant races, up-and-coming horses, and the very first hints of the 2026 Kentucky Derby trail.
Del Mar is set to throw its final major weekend of the year around with a couple of longtime top-level local races making up its finale. On November 29, the Hollywood Derby is set to kick off the action at one of the top-rated tracks, drawing the best three-year-old turf runners looking to make their mark in a high-caliber field. The event rarely serves as a top-rated track for the horses to make a transitional move from the summer campaigns or to secure their last graded victory before going into their four-year-old season.
On the next day, November 30, Del Mar horse racing will be closing its racing season with the Matriarch Stakes (G1) as the main event. Usually, the Matriarch attracts the best older fillies and mares on turf and has been the source of a few of the most reliable turf runners in the entire nation. These two races are very potent year-end options for the people involved in the horses to choose if they want to end the racing season with a win.
Now that Del Mar horse racing’s meet is coming to a close, people will be looking to Santa Anita Park to see what’s next. The top-rated tracks in Arcadia kicked off its winter-spring meet on December 26 with three highly regarded Grade 1 races: the American Oaks, the La Brea Stakes, and the Malibu Stakes.
The American Oaks to top-rated tracks for three-year-old fillies at a mile and a quarter on turf, provides an important final showcase for the division. The La Brea Stakes brings together top filly sprinters at seven furlongs top-rated tracks, while the Malibu Stakes serves as a key race for three-year-old colts making their final start before turning four. These races have often launched future stars into their next campaigns.
The top-rated tracks at Churchill downs, planned for November 28, keep its position as one of the best tracks for older horses but is no longer a Grade 1 level. In the same vein, the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, which is now happening on December 6, will continue to bring good-quality horses but will lose some of the glamour that it used to have due to the downgrade. These changes have an effect on the final racing calendars as well as breeding being valued differently because winning a Grade 1 is still the main qualification that a stallion or a broodmare can claim.
Most fans are still concentrating on the last major races of 2025, but the leading tracks for the 2026 Kentucky Derby have already been revealed to a great extent by the top-rated races. Several prep races in late fall and winter will start to determine the leaderboard for points qualifying for the Derby. The Derby, which is set for May 2 at Churchill Downs, is still the most awaited race of the year and the first leg of the Triple Crown.
Preparations staged from November to February frequently emphasize young three-year-olds that are making a first move to be candidates for the Derby. In fact, the main races of the likes of Churchill Downs, Aqueduct, and Los Alamitos, the Kentucky Jockey Club, the Remsen Stakes, and the Los Alamitos Futurity, are getting to be the first occasions where we see the best of the best emerging from these top-rated tracks and thus being the future stars turning bright in these top-rated tracks.
Trainers and owners are already positioning their top juveniles for these races, to secure points early before the main series of spring preps begins. The buildup to the 2026 Triple Crown season is expected to be competitive with many major barns having strong two-year-old crops this racing season.
The sport is still holding a diversified world of the toughest competitions with 93 Grade 1 races in the main part of North America in 2025. As of now, the year will probably be the same with these events being the main attractions: the Pegasus World Cup in January, the Santa Anita Handicap in March, and the summer classics at Saratoga.
The culminating event for the 2026 racing season will be the Breeders’ Cup, which is the championship event for the sport and is held at rotating top-rated tracks. The official announcement of the 2026 host site is still pending, but the excitement will keep increasing throughout the entire next year.
The late racing season races at Del Mar horse racing and Santa Anita in California are the last opportunities for the highest-level performances before the year 2025 changes. The very first moves toward the following Kentucky Derby racing season are visible, which implies that even though the year is coming to be close, the rhythm of horse racing is not stopping.
