Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's 3-year-old Forte, winner of last Saturday's Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course, has moved into second place behind Cody's Wish in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings. The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), which will be run Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
Forte, last year's FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1) winner and champion 2-year-old male, earned 238 votes following his hard-fought nose victory over Saudi Crown in the Jim Dandy. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Forte rose from third place to second this week.
Godolphin's Cody's Wish, last year's Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner, tops all Classic contenders in the rankings with 286 votes. The 5-year-old son of Curlin, trained by Bill Mott, is slated to start in Saratoga's Whitney Stakes (G1), a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In race for a free berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.
Gary and Mary West's Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) winner West Will Power dropped from second place to third with 229 votes but was retired Aug. 1 due to a soft tissue issue. (Voting for this week's Classic Rankings closed on July 31). Pin Oak Stud's TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Geaux Rocket Ride improved from sixth place to fourth with 165 votes. OGMA Investments, LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing LLC, and CMNWLTH's Mage, who won the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), is fifth with 164 votes.
Blue Rose Farm's Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Arcangelo follows in sixth with 126 votes. Lucky Seven Stable's Rattle N Roll, second in the Stephen Foster, is seventh with 95 votes.
Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman's Defunded, fourth as the odds-on favorite in the San Diego Handicap (G2) at Del Mar, dropped from fourth place to eighth with 78 votes. Whisper Hill Farm LLC's Suburban Stakes (G2) winner Charge It, also expected for the Whitney, is ninth with 77 votes, and Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector, winner of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes presented by Baccarat (G1), is 10th with 47 votes.
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. 10. 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. 1, 2023*
| Rank | Horse | Votes | First-Place Votes | Previous Week |
| 1 | Cody's Wish | 286 | 23 | 1 |
| 2 | Forte | 238 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | West Will Power | 229 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Geaux Rocket Ride | 165 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | Mage | 164 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Arcangelo | 126 | 0 | 7 |
| 7 | Rattle N Roll | 95 | 1 | 8 |
| 8 | Defunded | 78 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Charge It | 77 | 0 | 9 |
| 10 | Art Collector | 47 | 0 | 10 |
*Note – The Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders' Cup Classic.
The 2023 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 1/4 miles on the main track at Santa Anita, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock.
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