446 Graded Races in 2025: What Did We Learn?

[Wandering Eyes]

Despite a few downgrades due to weather and a cancellation here and there, the U.S. and Canada still combined to run 446 graded races in 2025. What stands out after another full year of North American graded racing is in the books?

• All 98 scheduled Grade I races were run, with just three horses scoring a trio of successes at the elite level: Journalism, Sovereignty, and Ted Noffey. Another nine horses doubled up with two Grade I wins on the year.
• In addition to the 98 Grade I events, there were 136 North American Grade II races and 212 Grade III races.
• Sovereignty and Nitrogen tied for the most graded wins in 2025 with five. Hot on their heels were Bishops Bay, Fionn, Journalism, and Thorpedo Anna, who each had four graded wins.
• One sire notched five individual Grade I winners in North America in 2025: Into Mischief. Gun Runner, Not This Time, and Nyquist were right on his heels with four individual GISWs, while Dubawi (Ire), Liam's Map, Medaglia d'Oro, Ten Sovereigns (Ire), and Twirling Candy each had three. Another nine sires scored with two coveted Grade I winners apiece.
• Into Mischief also led the individual graded stakes winner tally with 17 on the year in North America, while Not This Time (15), Gun Runner (14), and Nyquist (11) also breached double digits.
• 24 of North America's graded races were won by runners out of Bernardini mares, making the late stallion far and away the leading broodmare sire by graded wins in 2025. Uncle Mo had 17 graded wins as a damsire, while Street Sense and Tapit each ended the year with 16. In the Grade I category, Bernardini, Distorted Humor, and Uncle Mo tied with six Grade I wins apiece, but it was Distorted Humor in front with five individual GISWs while Bernardini and Uncle Mo had three each.
• 58 of the Grade I races were contested on dirt, with the remaining 40 on grass. Overall, 224 of the 446 graded races ran on the main track, with another 195 on the lawn and 27 on all-weather surfaces.
• 37 of the 98 Grade I races were won by homebreds, whether raced by their breeders outright or with additional partners. At least 142 of the 446 graded races in 2025–or nearly a third–were won by homebreds.
• Godolphin bred four individual Grade I winners in North America, Juddmonte bred three, and Don Alberto Corporation and Spendthrift Farm each bred two. While a number of programs bred multiple graded winners, one stands especially tall: Godolphin bred the winners of 25 North American graded races in 2025. Those represented 15 individual graded winners, 12 of which were campaigned as homebreds when they visited the graded winner's circle in 2025.
• 231 of the 446 graded races were won by graduates of Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, or OBS. The priciest were Barnes ($3,200,000 Ylg '23 FTSAUG), Brant ($3,000,000 2yo '25 OBSMAR), and Lush Lips (GB) ($3,700,000 3yo '25 KEENOV). On the flip side, Argos, Chunk of Gold, Nobals, Regaled, Sultana, The Queens M G, and White Abarrio all sold for $10,000 or less at domestic sales.
• There's a three-way tie for most Grade I wins among trainers. Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, and Todd Pletcher each won 10 in 2025. Baffert (35), Brown (28), and Brad Cox (26) led the year by graded wins.
• Fun facts: Not This Time sired the trifecta in the GII Jessamine Stakes on opening day of Keeneland's fall meet and the superfecta in the GIII Bryan Station Stakes on closing day of the same meet… The First Defence mare Antonoe produced two new Grade I winners in 24 hours at the end of November when Salamis won the Hollywood Derby and Segesta won the Matriarch Stakes; both race as homebreds for Juddmonte… Four specific crosses resulted in two 2025 Grade I winners each: Gun Runner over Malibu Moon, Into Mischief over Distorted Humor, and Liam's Map over Scat Daddy.

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