BC Classic (Grade 1)- $7,000.000 Purse
DMR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Dirt
November 1, 2025

Ten years ago, Delta Farms celebrated what was, at the time, his biggest career win, as Viking Shield won the 2015 BC Classic over Port On The Horizon, A One, and Niagra at KEE. A decade later, he would bring Fawkes to DMR, hoping that the Haskell winner could duplicate Viking Shield’s accomplishment. He would go off at odds of nearly 24/1, as bettors preferred the likes of Quiet Return, who was also our pick to win, as well as Extreme Jet, the one that had won two TC races this year. Coming from near the back, Fawkes came on strong in the stretch to prevent the not dead at all Extreme Jet from adding the BC Classic to his resume. For Delta Farms, this is his second BC Classic win and comes with a higher purse than his win with Viking Shield. F Pennington, the regular rider of Fawkes, gets his first BC Classic win. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 2:00.56, the second quickest of the races held at DMR. Let’s take a look at it now:

(½ Mile- :46.70)- The start of the race sees two horses break away from the rest of the back as The Sidley Stud’s Berlin and Mb Stables’ Wahpekute Sioux clear the rest of the field by about two lengths. Wahpekute Sioux is one officially credited with the lead at this point. The pair that sits just off the lead are TwinTowersRacing’s Without Warning, and Extreme Jet, who is on the rail for Mb Stables. There’s a group of four two lengths behind them, as No Real Drama runs to the inside for Asgar, while All Take runs sixth for Alydar Stables. In between them are Charlie Jace and Quiet Return, respectively trained by Mb Stables and John Henry. It’s another length to our eventual winner from Delta Farms, Fawkes, as takes the wide lane around the opening turn. It’s another length to last year’s winner, Spankersville (The Sidley Stud), followed by Big Hang Boom (Rock Creek), Boss Spearman (John Henry). Further back, Fried Chicken (Angelos Stable) and Frenchman (Threshold) have a lot of work to do.

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.05)- Moving down the backstretch, Berlin starts to get the better of Wahpekute Sioux and leads him by a half-length. No one has mounted a charge on these two at this stage of the race, so it is Without Warning and Extreme Jet two lengths behind them. Things get interesting with the group of four that was next in line, with Charlie Jace moving into the fifth spot, a neck ahead of All Take. No Real Drama and Quiet Return appear to be just waiting for their time to strike right now and are not bothered by what goes on around them. Fawkes continues a five wide trip in the ninth position. Then comes Spankersville, who has not shown much yet, and neither have the four behind him.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Berlin handles the turn very well, pulling away from Wahpekute Sioux and entering the stretch all by himself, leading by a length. While Wahpekute Sioux was handled by Berlin, the leader had a new Mb Stables horse to be concerned about as Extreme Jet was inching closer, and so too was Without Warning. Charlie Jace was also looking to make a run of his own, but on the outside the persistence of Fawkes was paying off. It’s never ideal to be so far outside, and this was actually the reason I didn’t make him one of my picks as I was concerned about him being stuck wide. This makes him all the more impressive, as it would not get in the way. Still had a lot of work to do at this point, but once in the stretch, he had a clear lane to make a run. Meanwhile, All Take was trying to hang with him, and we were still waiting for No Real Drama, Quiet Return, and Spankersville to get rolling. Fried Chicken was showing interest but had to come from way back. Today was not going to be the day for Big Bang Boom, Boss Spearman, and Frenchman.

(Finish- 2:00.56)- Berlin would look to bring it home in the stretch, and Extreme Jet would pull up to his outside to try and make the pass. He was closing in and would get there in time if that was the race for the win. However, on the far outside, Fawkes showed incredible heart, getting closer with every stride, until he was right there with the top two at the wire. Once they got to the finish, it would be Fawkes getting there just in time, prevailing in a photo with Extreme Jet to be second, with Berlin also close in the photo but setting for third. Without Warning was with this group, but needed a little more to challenge them, and will get the fourth-place check. Charlie Jace hangs on over the late running Fried Chicken, who simply saved too much ground at the start, to be fifth. The rest of the order will read All Take, Quiet Return, Wahpekute Sioux, Boss Spearman, No Real Drama, Big Bang Boom, Spankersville, and Frenchman. After the race, the retirement of Spankersville was announced. The 2024 BC Classic champion would win 17 races over 56 starts and make $9,573.880 in his career.

About the Winner- Fawkes, trained by Delta Farms and ridden to victory by F Pennington, is a three-year-old colt by Buckbeak and is out of Odious. He was bred in Pennsylvania as a third quarter two-year-old by Delta Farms, the only trainer for which he has ever known. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his third in ten starts, and all of his wins are graded stakes. His career earnings are now $5,729.650.

Track: Fast
Time: :46⁴  1:11  1:35³  2:00²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 13 – 6 Paid 58.30
$1 Trifecta: 13 – 6 – 11 Paid 564.90

Scratched: Malediction

— NS

Categories: BC 2025, Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, THE BREEDERS CUP