Arthur’s Ride Zooms to No. 2

Arthur’s Ride (NYRA/Coglianese)

In Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings

Whitney Winner Follows Top-Rated Dornoch in Second Weekly Poll of Leading Contenders for $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar

Breeders’ Cup Press Release

LEXINGTON, Ky. ― Following his dominant win in the Aug. 3 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, Glassman Racing’s Arthur’s Ride zoomed to the No. 2 spot behind Dornoch in the latest Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings.

The Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), which will be run Nov. 2 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California.

Arthur’s Ride, a 4-year-old Florida bred son of Tapit, won the Whitney by 2 1/4 lengths in his graded stakes debut for trainer Bill Mott, and earned an automatic berth in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.

Arthur’s Ride garnered 249 votes in this week’s rankings, second to Belmont Stakes (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Dornoch, who is owned by West Paces Racing LLC, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC, former Philadelphia Phillies All-Star Jayson Werth’s Two Eight Racing, LLC, and Pine Racing Stables. Trained by Danny Gargan, Dornoch leads the second week of the rankings with 280 votes.

Repole Stable’s Curlin Florida Derby (G1) and Jim Dandy Stakes presented by Mohegan Sun (G2) winner Fierceness ranks third with 216 votes for trainer Todd Pletcher. Fellow 3-year-old Forever Young (JPN),winner of the UAE Derby sponsored by Atlantis the Royal (G2) and third in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), is in fourth place with 196 votes for owner Susumu Fujita and trainer Yoshito Yahagi.

Following his sixth-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the Whitney, the 4-year-old National Treasure dropped out of a first-place tie with Dornoch in last week’s poll and into fifth place with 162 votes. National Treasure is trained by Bob Baffert and owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC, and Catherine Donovan.

The 6-year-old Senor Buscador, who won the Saudi Cup (G1), rose from seventh place to sixth this week with 158 votes for trainer Todd Fincher and owner Peacock Family Racing Stable, LLC.

Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing, LLC, and Peter Brant’s 3-year-old Sierra Leone, second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes for trainer Chad Brown, slid from fifth place to seventh with 153 votes.

Spendthrift Farm LLC’s 4-year-old Kingsbarns is in eighth place with 133 votes. Also trained by Pletcher, Kingsbarns secured an automatic start into the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic when he won the June 29 Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith’s 3-year-old City of Troy, who won the Betfred (English) Derby (G1) at Epsom and the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown (G1) for trainer Aidan O’Brien, is in ninth place 123 votes. 

Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co. Ltd.’s 7-year-old Ushba Tesoro (JPN), second in the Saudi Cup and the Dubai World Cup (G1) sponsored by Emirates Airlines (G1), is in 10^th place with 97 votes for trainer Noboru Takagi.

The 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. 8. 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 order.

Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings – Aug. 6, 2024*