Antiquarian inches up in Breeders' Cup Classic rankings

Antiquarian, winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, rose to seventh place after the sixth week of voting in the Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings. Sovereignty retains the overall lead.  

 

The rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will be run Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

 

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Antiquarian gained his second win of the year with his 1 1/2-length victory in the Aug. 31 Jockey Club Gold Cup and earned an automatic starting position in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The 4-year-old son of Preservationist rose to seventh place in the rankings this week with 129 votes.

 

Kentucky Derby Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, leads in the rankings with 402 votes. He is followed in second place by the Pletcher-trained Pacific Classic (G1) winner Fierceness, with 341 votes.

 

Sierra Leone, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and winner of this year’s Whitney Stakes (G1), is in third place with 329 votes for trainer Chad Brown.

 

Mindframe, winner of the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1), is in fourth place with 265 votes.

 

Journalism stays in fifth place with 220 votes for trainer Michael McCarthy.

 

Saudi Cup (G1) winner Forever Young is in sixth place with 191 votes for trainer Yoshito Yahagi. Following seventh-place Antiquarian is San Diego Handicap (G2) winner Nysos, trained by Bob Baffert, who is in eighth place with 121 votes.

 

Baeza, third in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes for trainer John Shirreffs, is in ninth place with 97 votes.

 

Highland Falls, runner-up in the Whitney Stakes, is in 10th place with 65 votes for trainer Brad Cox. 

 

Fierceness, Sierra Leone, Mindframe, Journalism, Forever Young and Antiquarian each have earned automatic starting positions in this year's Classic. The final automatic qualifier will be the Goodwood Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita on Sept. 27.

 

The Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders’ Cup racing directors-secretaries panel. Rankings will be announced each week through Oct. 7. A list of voting members can be found here.

 

Each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order. The rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders’ Cup Classic.