Catholic Boy a top Breeders' Cup Classic prospect ahead of Suburban

For the fourth consecutive week, Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s 4-year-old McKinzie (258 votes) has been voted the top horse in the Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings.

McKinzie, trained by Bob Baffert, won the Alysheba Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs and most recently was second in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park on June 8. On Sunday at Santa Anita Park, McKinzie worked 4 furlongs handily in 47.80.

The next seven horses in the rankings remained the same from last week.

Godolphin’s 5-year-old Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Thunder Snow (235 votes), is in second followed by Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stables’ 4-year-old Catholic Boy (171 votes) in third; Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s 4-year-old Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1) winner Vino Rosso (158 votes) is in fourth, with Charles Fipke’s 6-year-old homebred Seeking the Soul (155) votes), winner of the Stephen Foster (G2), in fifth and Hronis Racing’s 6-year-old Santa Anita Handicap (G1) winner Gift Box (112 votes) in sixth place.

Catholic Boy is set to run Saturday at Belmont Park in the $700,000 Suburban Handicap (G2), a 1 1/4-mile dirt feature for 4-and-up males. Last out, the Jonathan Thomas trainee won the Dixie Stakes (G2) on Preakness Stakes day at Pimlico.

Fox Hill Farms’ 3-year-old Omaha Beach (71 votes), winner of the Arkansas Derby (G1), retained the seventh spot in this week's poll, followed by Salomon Del Valle’s 5-year-old Gunnevera (68 votes), runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, in eighth. 

Gary and Mary West’s 3-year-old Florida Derby (G1) winner and disqualified Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Maximum Security (66 votes) moved up one place from last week to the No. 9 position.

New to the Classic leaderboard at No. 10 is Hronis Racing’s 5-year-old Catalina Cruiser (59 votes), trained by John Sadler. A 5-year-old son of Union Rags, Catalina Cruiser finished sixth as the favorite in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. In his debut this year, Catalina Cruiser won the True North (G2) at Belmont Park on June 7.

The Breeders’ Cup  Classic Rankings, a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park, Nov. 2, are determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers and members of the Breeders’ Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings are announced each week through October 15 and can be found on the Breeders’ Cup website along with the list of voting members.

In the Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings, each voter ranks horses by assigning their allotted votes on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.

Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings Top 10 – July 2, 2019 *

*Note – The Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings have no official bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders’ Cup Classic.