Locked joins top 10 in Breeders' Cup Classic rankings

Locked, winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct, joined the top 10 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings, and Sovereignty remains the overall leader.

 

The Breeders’ Cup Classic 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.

 

The 4-year-old Locked, trained by Todd Pletcher, scored a three-quarters of a length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Woodward for his second win in five starts this year. The triumph propelled the son of Gun Runner from 11th to ninth place in the rankings with 50 votes after the ninth week of the poll.

 

Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, leads the rankings with 394 votes. Pacific Classic (G1) winner Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher, is in second place with 335 votes.

 

Whitney Stakes (G1) winner and defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone, is in third place with 324 votes for trainer Chad Brown.

 

Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) winner Mindframe is in fourth place with 240 votes for Pletcher.

 

Journalism, winner of the Preakness Stakes and Haskell Stakes (G1), is in fifth place with 222 votes for trainer Michael McCarthy.

 

Forever Young, who won the Saudi Cup (G1) and finished third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, is in sixth place with 181 votes for trainer Yoshito Yahagi.

 

Baeza, winner of the Pennsylvania Derby (G1), is in seventh place for trainer John Shirreffs. Antiquarian, who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), is in eighth place with 125 votes. Antiquarian is the fourth horse trained by Pletcher in the top 10 of the rankings.

 

Following Locked in 10th place is Godolphin’s 5-year-old homebred Highland Falls, runner-up in the Whitney Stakes (G1), who has 42 votes for trainer Brad Cox. 

 

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

 

In the Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings, each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.