Improbable, a commanding 4 ½-length winner of Saturday's Awesome Again Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, leaped from fourth to first place in Week #11 of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, overtaking stablemate Maximum Security for the top spot.
The 2020 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings is a weekly poll of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). The 1 ¼-mile Classic, scheduled to be run on Nov. 7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., is the climactic race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Improbable (308 votes), owned by WinStar Farm, CHC Inc. and SF Racing, and Maximum Security (274 votes), the Awesome Again runner-up, owned by Gary and Mary West, Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, are both trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. The Awesome Again was a Breeders' Cup Challenge automatic qualifying race for the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. Improbable had already earned a Classic berth when he won the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 1.
GMB Racing's Tom's d'Etat (268 votes), who captured the “Win and You're In” Stephen Foster Stakes (G2), drops from second to third place, and is now followed in fourth by Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law (223 votes), winner of both the Belmont (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1).
The next six places in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings remain unchanged. Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables and Starlight Racing's Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Authentic (207 votes), the 9-5 favorite in Saturday's “Win and You're In” Preakness Stakes (G1), is in fifth place. Also trained by Baffert, Authentic earned a Classic berth when he won the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park on July 18. Authentic is followed by Allied Racing Stable's By My Standards (162 votes) and W.S. Farish's Code of Honor (92 votes) in sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Bruce Lunsford's Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) winner Art Collector (83 votes), the 5-2 second choice in the Preakness, is in eighth place, one spot ahead of Sagamore Farm and WinStar Farm's Woodward Stakes (G1) winner Global Campaign (74 votes). Juddmonte Farms' Suburban Stakes (G2) winner Tacitus (64 votes) is in 10th place.
Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – Sept. 30, 2020*
| RANK | HORSE | TOTAL VOTES | FIRST-PLACE VOTES |
| 1 | Improbable | 308 | 15 |
| 2 | Maximum Security | 274 | 7 |
| 3 | Tom's d'Etat | 268 | 8 |
| 4 | Tiz the Law | 223 | 4 |
| 5 | Authentic | 207 | 0 |
| 6 | By My Standards | 162 | 0 |
| 7 | Code of Honor | 92 | 0 |
| 8 | Art Collector | 83 | 0 |
| 9 | Global Campaign | 74 | 0 |
| 10 | Tacitus | 64 | 0 |
*Note – The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.
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. 13. A list of voting members can be found here.
In the Longines 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 2020 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic will be televised live on NBC.
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