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Whitney Win Vaults Knicks Go To Top Of Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings

Korea Racing Authority's 5-year-old Knicks Go, dominant winner of last Saturday's Whitney (G1) at Saratoga, has vaulted to No. 1 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 38^th Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Knicks Go, trained by Brad Cox, rose from fourth place to the top of the Classic Rankings, receiving 314 votes. Knicks Go led the 1 1/8-mile Whitney from start to finish, winning by 4 ½ lengths over Maxfield, who had been the top-rated horse in the poll for the first six weeks. Knicks Go has won three of five starts this year, which includes the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park in January and the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) in July. Last year, Knicks Go won the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland.

Godolphin's 3-year-old Essential Quality, also trained by Cox, stayed in second place this week with 276 votes. Essential Quality, last year's TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner, won the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga and the Belmont Stakes (G1) in his last two starts. Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfield dropped from first to third place this week with 269 votes. Trained by Brendan Walsh, Maxfield has won three races in 2021, including the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs, in which he earned an automatic berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss's 3-year-old Hot Rod Charlie, trained by Doug O'Neill, dropped one position to fourth place with 202 votes.

Juddmonte's 3-year-old Mandaloun, winner of the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) on July 17, remained in fifth place with 127 votes. Also trained by Cox, Mandaloun has been taken out of training for the remainder of the year due to a sore foot.

St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska rose one spot to sixth place with 96 votes. Trained by Fausto Gutierrez, Letruska won the Ogden Phipps (G1) at Belmont Park and the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs in her last two starts.

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's 4-year-old Silver State dropped one spot to seventh place with 95 votes. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Silver State finished third in the Whitney, suffering his first defeat of the year after four wins.

CRK Stable's 4-year-old Express Train, winner of the San Diego Handicap (G2) at Del Mar, remained in eighth place with 85 votes.

George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp.'s 4-year-old Max Player, winner of Belmont's Suburban (G2), is in ninth place. Also trained by Asmussen, Max Player has 70 votes.

Wertheimer and Frere's Happy Saver and Fox Hill Farms and Siena Farm's Royal Ship (BRZ) are tied in 10^th place with 53 votes apiece. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Happy Saver lost his first race in six starts when he finished third in the Suburban. Royal Ship won the Californian Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita in April and was recently third in the San Diego Handicap for trainer Richard Mandella.

Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – Aug. 10, 2021*

Rank	Horse	Votes	First-Place Votes	Previous Week
1	Knicks Go	314	22	4
2	Essential Quality	276	4	2
3	Maxfield	269	6	1
4	Hot Rod Charlie	202	1	3
5	Mandaloun	127	0	5
6	Letruska	96	0	7
7	Silver State	95	0	6
8	Express Train	85	0	8
9	Max Player	70	0	9
10	Happy Saver	53	0	9
10	Royal Ship (BRZ)	53	0	0

*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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Maxfield Gets 105 Beyer Speed Figure For Second Place Finish In Whitney

Godolphin homebred Maxfield matched a career-best 105 Beyer for his runner-up effort in Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

With Jose Ortiz up for trainer Brendan Walsh in the nine-furlong test, Maxfield stalked from fourth position before making a late move to complete the exacta 4 1/2-lengths back of the Brad Cox-trained winner Knicks Go.

“He ran great and we're very proud of him as always. He put in a good effort,” Walsh said. “He beat some nice horses and got beat by a very good horse. It happens.

“Brad's horse is a very good horse and when he gets alone on the lead, he's very tough to beat,” Walsh added. “He ran well and it's a little more experience for him.”

The 4-year-old Street Sense colt boasts a perfect in-the-money record of 9-7-1-1 with purse earnings in excess of $1.4 million. He entered the Whitney off consecutive Grade 2 scores at Churchill Downs in the Alysheba in April and the Stephen Foster in June.

“We'll leave him here for a while and see how he comes out of it and come up with a plan,” Walsh said.

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Walsh Prepares Four For Kentucky Downs Previews At Ellis Park

Trainer Brendan Walsh hopes to use the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Sprint as a stepping stone to competing in the compact meet at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky. Born Great proved last year that he relished that undulating surface by winning not once, but twice. Though not unprecedented, it is rare for horses to race more than once at Kentucky Downs' short all-turf meet. Born Great did so with great success, knocking out a maiden victory that he followed with an allowance score a week later.

Born Great in his last start finished second by a neck in a Churchill Downs turf sprint won by graded-stakes winner Angaston.

“He's doing great,” Walsh said. “We'll see how it goes, but hopefully it will set him up good for Kentucky Downs. He really liked it there last year. He might be as good this year as last, if not better. He ran a really good race at the end of the Churchill spring meet and was very unlucky. Five-and-a-half (furlongs) is probably as short as he would want. But the 6 1/2 at Kentucky Downs set him really well last year.

“But this is a tough race. There are two or three really nice horses in there. It's a good race.”

Walsh also has Ethical Judgement in Saturday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Derby, Amazima in Sunday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Sprint, and the 4-year-old filly Family Way taking on the boys in the $125,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Cup.

Ethical Judgement gets back to turf for the first time since he was second in his first race. He ran well in three starts rained off the turf before finishing fifth in the Ohio Derby at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, the same distance as the Preview Dueling Grounds Derby.

“He seems to be good on the dirt as well,” Walsh said. “But he's another one we'd like to try him back on the grass. And if that worked well, maybe he'd be a horse for the Dueling Grounds Derby at Kentucky Downs.”

Amazima did not run well over Arlington Park's Polytrack in the Grade 3 Matron Stakes. But before that, she was a good third in a turf sprint after shortening up in distance.

Family Way ran seventh in Arlington's Grade 3 Modesty at 1 3/16 miles on turf after having a win and a second in two allowance starts since arriving from France.

“Why not?” the Irish-born Walsh said of taking on males. “In Europe, we do it all the time. The distance is what I really like about it. The mile and a quarter would really hit her right between the eyes. There isn't a whole lot around that distance.”

Walsh is a big fan of Ellis' Kentucky Downs Preview series.

“We've got a barn at Ellis, so we don't have to go too far to run,” he said. “They're nice prep races for Kentucky Downs.”

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Walsh will saddle the 4-year-old Maxfield in Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Maxfield, who is 4, never ran at Ellis Park but spent all summer of his 2-year-old season training at the Pea Patch before launching his career at Churchill Downs. The Whitney's field of five is composed of all Kentucky-based horses, including Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Knicks Go and By My Standards, owned by Chester Thomas of Madisonville. The 5-year-old Knicks Go broke his maiden at Ellis Park and finished second the next year in the Ellis Park Derby.

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Equibase Analysis: By My Standards Poised To Run Down Knicks Go

The number seven is rampant in the 2021 edition of the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes, as each of the five entrants possesses seven career victories. Combined, the field has won 35 of 70 races for more than $12 million career earnings. Leading the group is Knicks Go, who has made a career of taking the lead at the start and running his competitors off their feet while coasting home in front in the final eighth of a mile. Using his early speed, Knicks Go has won five of his last six North American starts, most recently the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at the distance of the Whitney.

Next in accomplishments is the filly Swiss Skydiver, winner of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes against males last fall and winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile earlier this year. Maxfield has only been defeated one time in eight career starts and enters the Whitney off strong victories in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes and in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes, also at the distance of this race. Silver State has also won two graded stakes in a row starting with the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April at this nine-furlong trip, followed up by a win in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June. Last but certainly not least in this strong quintet is By My Standards¸ runner-up in the 2020 Whitney and winner of the Oaklawn Mile Stakes in April before a runner-up effort in the Metropolitan Handicap.

Owing to the heavy favoritism Knicks Go will receive from bettors, I'm going to opt for By My Standards to post the upset in this year's Whitney Stakes. Winner of the 2019 Louisiana Derby and well-regarded in the Kentucky Derby that year, By My Standards had little chance in the Derby after getting squeezed back at the start and losing position. Sitting out the balance of 2019, By My Standards returned as a 4-year-old last year and won three races in a row including both the New Orleans Classic Stakes and Oaklawn Handicap before a big runner-up effort behind Tom's d'Etat in the 2020 Stephen Foster Stakes. Next came a career best effort with a 113 Equibase Speed Figure when second behind Improbable in the 2020 Whitney. He ran poorly last fall in two races but just as he did to start 2020, By My Standards started 2021 with a bang, first winning the Oaklawn Mile in April before a runner-up effort in the Metropolitan Handicap (Met Mile) in June. Although second in the Met Mile, By My Standards may have been best as he brushed the gate at the start, was soundly bumped back to last of six and was wide on the turn. Nevertheless, By My Standards rallied and was beaten just one length at the finish by Silver State. Now having finished first or second in five of six career starts at this mile and one-eighth distance, with a clean break By My Standards can post the upset win in this year's Whitney by running as well as he did in last year's edition of the race.

That being said, By My Standards must run down Knicks Go in the stretch to win. There's a saying in racing that “speed is the ultimate bias,” and with Knicks Go that is a fact. Brilliant as a 2-year-old when winning the Breeders' Futurity in the fall of 2019, Knicks Go went off form but got his brilliant speed back after moving to the barn of Brad Cox over the winter of 2020. Reeling off three wins in a row including the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall, Knicks Go won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational this past January with a strong 115 figure just one point shy of the career best 116 figure earned three months earlier. Following uncharacteristically poor fourth-place finishes in the Saudi Cup and Metropolitan Mile, Knicks Go showed all his speed, and talent, winning the Cornhusker Handicap last month at the distance of the Whitney and could prove impossible to catch once again.

Maxfield has been nearly perfect in his career, winning seven of eight races. His only loss came when trying 1 1/4 miles in the Santa Anita Handicap in March, perhaps just a bit farther than he wants to run. In his only try at the nine-furlong distance of the Whitney¸ Maxfield easily won the Stephen Foster Stakes in his most recent start near the end of June, earning a 107 figure. Perhaps he didn't have to run any faster, because two months earlier when winning the Alysheba Stakes, Maxfield earned a career-best 115 figure which stands up as nearly the same as the best figures of the top contenders in this field. It must also be noted that jockey Jose Ortiz is a perfect five-for-five when riding Maxfield, compared to four-for-five for Joel Rosario (Knicks Go) and seven-for-14 for Gabriel Saez (By My Standards).

In terms of probability, both Silver State and the filly Swiss Skydiver can't be ruled out. Silver State earned a 113 figure winning the Oaklawn Handicap in April at the distance of the Whitney before a game victory in the Metropolitan Handicap, while Swiss Skydiver already proved capable of beating males in last year's Preakness (111 figure) and won the Beholder Mile in March off a layoff similar to the one she's coming off today. Notably, North American leading jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides Swiss Skydiver for the first time and the jockey is in a pitched battle with his brother Jose for the coveted Saratoga riding title, with the brothers having won 24 races each through Wednesday and one behind leading jockey Luis Saez.

Win Contenders, in preference order:
By My Standards
Knicks Go
Maxfield

Whitney Stakes – Grade 1
Race 10 at Saratoga
Saturday, August 7 – Post Time 5:48 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth
4-Year-Olds and Upward
Purse: $1 Million

Ellis Starr is national racing analyst for Equibase

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