When Patriot Spirit bounded clear to win the Grade 3 Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont at the Big A on September 27, it was more than just another stakes victory. The four-year-old colt punched his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup with a Win and You’re In triumph, and gave trainer Michael Campbell a reason to dream big once again.

The son of Constitution out of Grade 1 winner Mistical Plan has developed into one of the season’s top sprinters, his 2025 campaign building momentum with each start. After a pair of runner-up finishes in stakes at Oaklawn and Churchill early in the year, Patriot Spirit hit full stride over the summer, dominating the Reigh Count Stakes at Colonial Downs before carrying that form forward into New York.

The Reigh Count win was Patriot Spirit’s third in three tries at Colonial, where he broke his maiden at first asking in 2025. The Vosburgh was his second win in a row.

Campbell, who trains Patriot Spirit for George A. Mellon, said the colt has matured into a professional after some growing pains earlier in his career.

 “We had a lot of minor issues we had to resolve with some time off. He popped a splint and things like that,” Campbell said on Off to the Races Radio Oct. 18. “It was small stuff, but I’ve been very careful. I didn’t want to exhaust this horse. It seemed to me like he was a horse that I could keep around for quite a while and run in bigger races.”

Patriot Spirit’s Vosburgh win came with an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. It was at seven furlongs, as was the Reigh Count, and earlier in the year, Patriot Spirit was second in the one-mile Knicks Go Overnight at Churchill Downs. The Breeders’ Cup Sprint is contested at six furlongs.

“This colt can go in eight-and-change, and eight-and-change will win [the Sprint],” Campbell explained. “When we were running him at seven furlongs, we had to contain him a bit—he gets too keen on the front end. If you aren’t careful, he’ll just grab the bit and take off. But if you tactically apply him, and believe me, you have to take a big hold of him at the beginning and then let him lay up close to a horse, he gets very competitive and keeps something in the tank for the finish.”

The colt has traveled a steady road since debuting at Colonial Downs in 2023. After a productive two-year-old campaign that included a win in the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay, Patriot Spirit lodged an Illinois Derby victory in April of his sophomore season and spent much of 2024 and 2025 facing top company around the country.

He’s notched four stakes wins among six overall victories from 15 career starts, building a bankroll of $531,210.

Campbell, a longtime horseman who previously trained runners at the now-defunct Arlington Park, is the son and grandson of horse trainers. Sons Jesse and Joel both rode professionally, with the former winning over 2300 races, while the latter earned 718 victories.

“We’ve all been jockeys and/or trainers,” the trainer said. “My whole family has for a hundred years.”

Campbell relishes the chance to return to the Breeders’ Cup stage. His last trip came in 2014, when he sent out Private Prospect, a horse he’d claimed out of his debut victory, to a ninth-place finish in the Juvenile. Campbell’s son Jesse was in the irons that day.

Patriot Spirit, bred in Kentucky by Blue Heaven Farm, breezed five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 at Keeneland Oct. 21. That was the fastest of a dozen works at the distance. He will complete his final preparations at Keeneland before shipping to California on October 27, Campbell said, for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar. Javier Castellano is expected to retain the mount.

Campbell says it will be “an honor to be there” at the Breeders’ Cup, and he believes his horse is arriving well prepared for the challenge ahead. One thing’s for sure: if preparation can cross the generations, Patriot Spirit will have plenty.

“It becomes an emotional thing,” he said. “You do this for the past generations that never got the opportunity to do this. Your lives and your family’s lives have lived in these shoes.”