Dave Portnoy picks Knightsbridge for Breeders' Cup Classic

The picks came out in a DraftKings-sponsored preview shot on a covered porch, with Dave and Elio each putting 1 horse on the board for the Classic.

Barstool Gambling

@stoolgambling

The Breeders Cup preview with @stoolpresidente and @elio82 @DKSports #DKPartner

This is a paid spot. It's tagged #DKPartner, it runs a STOOLHORSE promo code, and there's a King of the Track banner offering a share of $100,000 on straight win bets in the Classic. That's still a real split, though. Knightsbridge won the Pacific Classic for Bill Mott and gets Luis Saez on Saturday. He also isn't even the most-hyped Mott horse in the race. His Godolphin stablemate Sovereignty, the 2025 Horse of the Year, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, and Knightsbridge sits at 9-2. So Dave skipped the chalk for the barnmate, which is a very Dave thing to do.

Elio went further out on the board. Napoleon Solo won the Preakness for trainer Chad Summers and gets John Velazquez in the irons, but he's 15-1 on the morning line in an 8-horse field that also has Golden Tempo, The Puma, Magnitude and the Japanese pair of Forever Young and T O Password. The Classic is the last of 12 races on Saturday's card, with post time listed at 6:16 p.m. ET.

For Barstool, this week was circled on the calendar well before the picks dropped. On Wake Up Barstool earlier in the week, the crew wished the horse heads a happy Breeders' Cup and set up Elio's annual trip down.

Wake Up Barstool

@wakeupbarstool

“My fat friend Elio will be flying here, sitting in my pool for four days, losing a ton of money.”

0:45

Friday's card at Keeneland opened the 2-day event, and Dave started the morning in a good mood.

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

Happy Breeders Cup to all who celebrate!

About 3 hours later, he'd turned. He didn't say what went wrong, but the coal-in-the-stocking line tells you everything about how his early tickets were going.

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

Absolute vibe killer to start @BreedersCup Like waking up to coal in your stocking

Then FanDuel Racing caught it. Dave wanted to see the pick 5 pool, the kind of number you check before you decide how hard to swing on a multi-race ticket, and he didn't feel like being polite about asking.

Dave Portnoy

@stoolpresidente

Can they put up the pick 5 pool? Fucking dummies @FanDuel_Racing

That sets up a long Saturday. Friday went sideways early, Elio is in town losing money as scheduled, and the whole weekend now rides on the last race of the night. If Knightsbridge beats his own stablemate at 9-2, Dave gets to call the Classic and forget about Friday. If Napoleon Solo gets home at 15-1, Elio gets bragging rights at Dave's place for the rest of the trip.