2 days ago
Sovereignty Leads Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings For The Third Week
Sovereignty Leads Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings For The Third Week originally appeared on Paulick Report.
Godolphin's homebred Sovereignty stayed atop the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings for a third consecutive week heading into his expected next start in the Aug. 23 Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run Nov. 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., during the 42nd Breeders' Cup World by Bill Mott, Sovereignty, winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1) and Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), totaled 329 votes and held a 27-vote margin over Sierra Leone (302 votes), the defending Longines Breeders' Cup Classic winner and the winner of the Aug. 2 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga.
The remaining eight positions in the poll were also unchanged from last Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC's homebred 4-year-old Mindframe, winner of the Stephen Foster (G1), is in third place with 255 votes, followed by Preakness (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Journalism, who is in fourth place with 234 votes for trainer Michael McCarthy and owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta, Elayne Stables Five, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, and Derrick Corp's 4-year-old San Diego Handicap (G2) winner Nysos stays in fifth place with 184 votes for trainer Bob Baffert.
Saudi Cup (G1) winner Forever Young is in sixth place with 143 votes for owner Susumu Fujita and trainer Yoshito Yahagi. The 4-year-old Fierceness, owned by Repole Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael B. Tabor, and Mrs. John Magnier, and trained by Todd Pletcher, is in seventh place with 139 votes.C R K Stable LLC and Grandview Equine's 3-year-old Baeza, third in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes for trainer John Shirreffs, is in eighth place with 97 5-year-old homebred Highland Falls, runner-up in the Whitney Stakes, is in ninth place with 81 votes for trainer Brad Cox.C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's 6-year-old White Abarrio, who won the 2023 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, is in 10th place with 46 votes for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.
Sierra Leone (Whitney), Mindframe (Stephen Foster), Journalism (Haskell), and Forever Young (Saudi Cup) have each earned automatic starting positions and fees paid into this year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of leading 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.
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 – The Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders' Cup 2025 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 1/4 miles on the main track at Del Mar, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC.
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.
