Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Essential Quality Re-Takes Lead In Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings

Godolphin's Essential Quality moved back into first place by three votes over stablemate Knicks Go in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, a weekly poll of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). This year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic will be run at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California, on Nov. 6 as the final race of the 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships.

The 3-year-old Essential Quality, trained by Brad Cox, received 328 votes. A winner four times in five starts this year, including victories in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and the Runhappy Travers (G1), Essential Quality had been in first place for three consecutive weeks before being overtaken by Knicks Go last week. The 5-year-old Knicks Go, who is in second place with 325 votes, won his fourth race of the year in easy fashion on Saturday, taking the Lukas Classic (G3) at Churchill Downs by four lengths. Knicks Go earned a free berth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he won the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga Race Course in August.

The 3-year-old Hot Rod Charlie remained in third place with 269 votes. Owned by Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss, and trained by Doug O'Neill, Hot Rod Charlie won the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) in his most recent start.

Following his frontrunning victory in the “Win and You're In” Awesome Again Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit has jumped from seventh place to fourth this week with 206 votes.

Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfield dropped one spot to fifth place with 180 votes. Trained by Brendan Walsh, Maxfield, who finished second in the Woodward Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park on Saturday, earned an automatic starting position in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he captured the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs in June.

The big mover in this week's Classic Rankings was Bruce Lunsford's 4-year-old Art Collector, who leaped from 18^th place into a sixth-place tie with George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp's Max Player. Trained by Bill Mott, Art Collector won his third consecutive race when he captured Saturday's Woodward wire-to-wire by 1 ½ lengths.

The 4-year-old Max Player, trained by Steve Asmussen, earned an automatic berth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he won the Suburban Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park in July, and followed up that score with a victory in the “Win and You're In” Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Saratoga on Sept. 4. Art Collector and Max Player have 163 votes apiece.

St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska, a three-time Grade 1 winner this year for trainer Fausto Gutierrez, improved from 10^th place to eighth with 70 votes.

Prince A A Faisal's 4-year-old Mishriff (IRE) dropped one position to ninth place with 61 votes. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, Mishriff gained an invitation to the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he won the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) at York Racecourse in England on Aug. 18.

St. Elias Stable's Dr Post and Hronis Racing's Tripoli are tied in 10^th place with 35 votes each. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old Dr Post, who has two Grade 3 wins this year, finished third in the Woodward Stakes. The John Sadler trained 4-year-old Tripoli, who secured a free berth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he won the TVG Pacific Classic (G1) in August, dropped from sixth place to 10^th following his fourth-place finish in the Awesome Again Stakes.

Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – Oct. 5, 2021*

Rank	Horse	Votes	First-Place Votes	Previous Week
1	Essential Quality	328	14	2
2	Knicks Go	325	16	1
3	Hot Rod Charlie	269	1	3
4	Medina Spirit	206	1	7
5	Maxfield	180	1	4
6	Art Collector	163	1	18
6	Max Player	163	0	5
8	Letruska	70	0	10
9	Mishriff (IRE)	61	2	8
10	Dr Post	35	0	13
10	Tripoli	35	0	6

*Note – The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 2021 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 ¼ miles on the main track, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC.

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. 11. 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.

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Tarnawa A ‘Definite Possibility’ To Defend Her Title In Breeders’ Cup Turf

Last year's Breeders' Cup Turf winner Tarnawa may return stateside to defend her title at Del Mar in November, reports the Racing Post. The 5-year-old Shamardal mare ran most recently in Sunday's Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and was defeated just three-quarters of a length by 72-1 longshot Torquator Tasso over heavy ground at Longchamp.

In her other two starts this season, Tarnawa won the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes and ran second to St Mark's Basilica in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.

Trainer Dermot Weld said there was a “definite possibility” Tarnawa will make her next start in the Breeders' Cup Turf, racing against males again.

“She tried hard and we've got no excuses but you saw the stamina of Tarnawa, not the speed, which was nullified on the testing ground,” Weld explained. “If we hadn't had so much rain on Saturday night, we'd have won.”

Brad Cox Hoping To Add To His Breeders’ Cup Lineup At Keeneland This Weekend

Trainer Brad Cox unleashed a couple of coming attractions here last fall for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland when Essential Quality and Aunt Pearl (IRE) used Keeneland stakes victories as a springboard to respective triumphs in the TVG Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

Cox is hoping for a repeat performance in a trio of upcoming Breeders' Cup Challenge races, which provide the winners with a fees-paid berth into their respective races at Del Mar Nov. 5-6.

Friday's 1 1/16-mile Darley Alcibiades (G1) is first for Cox with a spot in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 5 on the line. Cox won the Darley Alcibiades in 2019 with British Idiom, who came back four weeks later to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.

This year, he has Godolphin's Matareya and Albaugh Family Stables' Juju's Map in the race.

“We have always thought highly of her,” Cox said of Matareya, who won her lone start by 4½ lengths at Ellis Park on Aug. 20. “Juju's Map, I like her a lot. She is a little more seasoned than Matareya, and she has won at a mile (at Ellis Park).”

Cox plans to run Shortleaf Stable's Vivar in Sunday's 1 1/16-mile Castle & Key Bourbon (G2), a “Win and You're In” race for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), also on Nov. 5.

“He ran well at Kentucky Downs,” Cox said of Vivar, who won going a mile as the 1-2 favorite. “He finished well.”

Hoping to follow in Aunt Pearl's footsteps for Cox is Dawn and Ike Thrash's Turnerloose, who is being pointed to next Wednesday's 1 1/16-mile JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2), a “Win and You're In” race for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 5.

“I like her a lot, too,” Cox said of Turnerloose, who has won twice going a mile with the latter score coming in the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies (L) at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 6.

Cox, whose 1-2 punch of Essential Quality and Knicks Go is targeting the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), plans to run Juddmonte's Bonny South in Sunday's 1 1/8-mile Juddmonte Spinster (G1). The Juddmonte Spinster is a “Win and You're In” race for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

“She's doing very well, and her last two works at Churchill Downs have been very good,” Cox said of Bonny South, who won the Baird Doubledogdare (G3) here in April. “We will see if she can close the gap on Letruska a little more.”

Bonny South has chased Letruska twice in 2021, finishing second by 2 ¾ lengths in the Ogden Phipps (G1) and in her most recent start was second by a half-length in the Personal Ensign (G1).

Cox already has Shedaresthedevil targeting the Breeders' Cup Distaff and is considering Donegal Racing's Ready to Purrform, winner of last Saturday's Laurel Futurity, for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

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Special Reserve Faces Off With Streaking Just Might In Friday’s Phoenix

Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher's Special Reserve headlines a field of seven sprinters entered Tuesday for Friday's 169th running of the $250,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) going six furlongs on the main track. Friday is opening day of Keeneland's Fall Meet, which marks the track's 85th anniversary.

Scheduled as the eighth race on Friday's 10-race program with a 5:10 p.m. ET post time, the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race with the winner receiving a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) to be run Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Trained by Mike Maker, Special Reserve has compiled a 6-4-2-0 record in 2021 and enters Friday's race off a runner-up effort in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga on July 31. In his lone Keeneland start, Special Reserve was second in this spring's Commonwealth (G3).

Joel Rosario, who was aboard in the Vanderbilt, has the mount Friday out of post position six.

Looming as the main threat to Special Reserve is Griffon Farms and trainer Michelle Lovell's Just Might.

Winner of his past four starts, all coming in stakes, Just Might enters Friday's race off dirt victories at Colonial Downs and most recently at Churchill Downs. Colby Hernandez has the mount from post four.

The field for the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix, with riders and weights from the inside, is:

Quick Tempo (Sophie Doyle, 118)
Mucho (Reylu Gutierrez, 120)
Endorsed (Julien Leparoux, 120)
Just Might (Hernandez, 120)
Aloha West (Jose Ortiz, 120)
Special Reserve (Rosario, 120)
Sir Alfred James (Corey Lanerie, 120)

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