Beating two rivals in the Woodward Stakes (G2) was enough to move Locked into the latest Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings with one week to go before the final rankings.
With Locked in at ninth, Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher trains four of the top 10 in the ninth edition of the rankings based on voting by a panel of thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders’ Cup directors/secretaries panel.
Pletcher, who has 15 Breeders’ Cup victories including the 2019 Classic with Vino Rosso, also trains Fierceness, ranked second, Mindframe, ranked fourth, and Antiquarian, ranked eighth.
With the 42nd Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar a month away (Oct. 31-Nov. 1), Pletcher says he’ll meet with the owners of Locked to decide if the 4-year-old takes on the 1 ¼-mile, $7 million Classic or goes in the $1 million Breeders Cup Dirt Mile (G1). The Woodward is not a Breeders' Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In" race.
Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, has been training up to the Classic since his most recent victory in the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga in August.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 3-year-old Sovereignty collected 394 points and 35 first-place votes. Fierceness, winner of the Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar, had 335 points and two first-place votes.
Meanwhile, Nevada Beach, the surprise winner of the “Win and You’re In" Goodwood Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita over the weekend, did not make the top 10 in the rankings. Magnitude, who earned a top 10 ranking after running second in the Pennsylvania Derby, dropped out with Locked’s inclusion.
Sierra Leone, last year’s Classic winner, Whitney Stakes (G1) winner and second last out in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), remains third with 324 points and three first-place votes.
Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) winner Mindframe is fourth, followed by Preakness Stakes (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Journalism, Saudi Cup (G1) winner Forever Young (set to run this week in Japan in a tune up for the Classic), Pennsylvania Derby (G1) winner Baeza, Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Antiquarian, Locked, and Highland Falls, second in the Whitney and third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
The rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for Classic. The rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Classic. Final rankings will be release on Oct. 7.
The field is limited to 14 starters.
In the rankings, each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.
Fierceness (Pacific Classic), Sierra Leone (Whitney), Mindframe (Stephen Foster), Journalism (Haskell), Forever Young (Saudi Cup), Antiquarian (Jockey Club Gold Cup) and Nevada Beach (Goodwood) have earned automatic starting positions, and fees paid, into the Classic through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
