Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna battle. (Chelsea Durand)
Travers Stakes Winner Leads City of Troy and Forever Young Among Top 10 Contenders for $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar
Breeders’ Cup Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. ― Repole Stable’s Travers Stakes (G1) winner Fierceness has retained to the top spot in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings for the fourth consecutive week, in front of fellow 3-year-olds City of Troy and Forever Young (JPN) after the eighth week of voting.
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.
Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher, rose to the No. 1 ranking following his dramatic Aug. 24 Travers Stakes win at Saratoga Race Course. Last year’s FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner and champion 2-year-old male earned 322 votes. Mrs. John Magner, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith’s Betfred Derby (G1) and Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) winner City of Troy, trained by Aidan O’Brien, is in second place with 282 votes. Susumu Fujita’s 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), remains in third place with 223 votes for trainer Yoshito Yahagi.
West Paces Racing LLC, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC, Two Eight Racing, LLC, and Pine Racing Stables’ Dornoch, winner of the Haskell Stakes (G1) and the Belmont Stakes (G1), jumped from sixth place to fourth this week with 163 votes for trainer Danny Gargan.
Sierra Leone,the Chad Brown trainee whofinished third in the Travers and was second in the Kentucky Derby (G1), remains in fifth place (162 votes) for owners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing, LLC, and Peter Brant.
Godolphin’s 4-year-old Highland Falls, winner of Saratoga’s Sept. 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), dropped from fourth place to sixth with 154 votes for trainer Brad Cox.
Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co. Ltd.’s 7-year-old Ushba Tesoro (JPN), second in the Saudi Cup (G1) and in the Dubai World Cup (G1) sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1), stayed in seventh place with 121 votes for trainer Noboru Takagi. Glassman Racing’s 4-year-old Whitney (G1) winner Arthur’s Ride, trained by Bill Mott,remainedeighth with 94 votes.
Hiroyuki Asanuma’s 4-year-old Derma Sotogake (JPN), who finished second in last year’s Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, is ninth with 86 votes, while Peacock Family Racing Stable, LLC’s 6-year-old Saudi Cup (G1) winner Senor Buscador remains in 10th place with 85 votes for trainer Todd Fincher.
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.
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.
Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings – Sept. 17, 2024*
| Rank | Horse | Votes | First-Place Votes | Previous Week |
| 1 | Fierceness | 322 | 21 | 1 |
| 2 | City of Troy | 282 | 10 | 2 |
| 3 | Forever Young (JPN) | 223 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Dornoch | 163 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Sierra Leone | 162 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Highland Falls | 154 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | Ushba Tesoro (JPN) | 121 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Arthur’s Ride | 94 | 0 | 8 |
| 9 | Derma Sotogake (JPN) | 86 | 1 | 9 |
| 10 | Senor Buscador | 85 | 0 | 10 |
*Note – The Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The 2024 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.
