Conditions for Saturday’s $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic are set to be ideal, but a home-track advantage could provide a more important edge for Golden Tempo.

He has yet to run a literal race at Keeneland Race Course, but the 2026 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner lives and trains at the track. Cherie DeVaux, who became the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, said she believes it benefits her more than her horse. “There is no place like home, as they say,” DeVaux told reporters in August.

Golden Tempo will look to become just the fifth horse to win both the Derby and Classic in the same year (Sunday Silence, 1989; Unbridled, 1990; American Pharoah, 2015; Authentic, 2020). The race reunites DeVaux and jockey Jose Ortiz, who won his first Triple Crown race at Churchill Downs.

The Classic’s deep field also includes Sovereignty (2025 Kentucky and Belmont winner), Napoleon Solo (2026 Preakness winner) and defending Breeders’ Cup champion Forever Young.

The weather outlook for Saturday’s races in Lexington, Ky., remains mostly cloudy—but dry. Along with the warmer temperatures—the National Weather Service said the expected high is between 71-73 degrees—riders will see a fast track on the dirt and firm conditions on turf.

In the Cup Classic, which is run on the dirt course, favorites like Knightsbridge (7-2 morning odds), Sovereignty (9-5) and Forever Young (7-5) could set an early fast pace and/or settle into a rhythm and follow a pacesetter. Golden Tempo (4-1), who has become famous for his closing kick, knows how to rally under these conditions. He won the Kentucky Derby by a neck and the Belmont by 1-1/4 lengths after sitting in last place early on in both races.

The 2018 edition of the Cup Classic was the most recent time weather threatened to have a negative effect on the race. The Churchill Downs track was sloppy two days before the race due to heavy rain, but the dirt dried out to fast by Saturday’s post time. There is a slight chance of rain on Saturday night, but well after the 6:16 p.m. ET post.