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Maximum Security Retains Top Spot In Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings

Maximum Security, unbeaten in three starts this year, maintained his top rating in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, while Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) winner Tom's d'Etat jumped into second place over Kentucky Derby (G1) runner-up Tiz the Law.

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.

Gary and Mary West, Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith's Maximum Security (282 votes) has a 52-vote margin over GMB Racing's 7-year-old Tom's d'Etat (230 votes). Maximum Security, trained by Bob Baffert, worked 6 furlongs in 1:11.40 on Monday at Santa Anita Park. Maximum Security earned a free berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic by capturing the “Win and You're In” TVG Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar on Aug. 22. He is scheduled to start next in the “Win and You're In” Awesome Again Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita on Sept. 26.

Tom's d'Etat, trained by Al Stall Jr., appeared on the work tab on Monday for the first time since his troubled third-place finish in the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 1. The bay son of Smart Strike breezed 4 furlongs in 50.80 at Churchill Downs.

Tiz the Law (205 votes), who won the Belmont Stakes (G1) and the Runhappy Travers (G1) before losing his first race of the year in the Derby, drops to third place with 205 votes. Trained by Barclay Tagg, Tiz the Law could start next in the “Win and You're In” Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico on Oct. 3 or be trained up to the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Baffert's two other runners in the top five – Improbable and Authentic – flipped positions in the standings this week. The 4-year-old Improbable (200 votes), owned by WinStar Farm, CHC Inc. and SF Racing, and winner of Saratoga's Whitney, worked 5 furlongs in 59.40 Monday at Santa Anita. He is also a candidate for the Awesome Again.

The 3-year-old Authentic (185 votes), owned by Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables and Starlight Racing, gave Baffert a record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby win. Authentic is slated to run next in the Preakness.

Baffert saddled three consecutive winners (2014-2016) of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic with Bayern, American Pharoah, and Arrogate, and all were 3-year-olds. Authentic earned a Breeders' Cup Challenge automatic berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he won the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park on July 18.

Allied Racing Stable's By My Standards (156 votes), winner of the Alysheba (G2) at Churchill Downs for trainer Bret Calhoun, stays in sixth place, while W.S. Farish's Code of Honor (79 votes) remains in seventh.

Sagamore Farm and WinStar Farm's 4-year-old Woodward (G1) winner Global Campaign (71 votes) rises from ninth to eighth place, switching positions with Bruce Lunsford's Blue Grass Stakes (G2) winner Art Collector (64 votes).

Juddmonte Farms' Suburban Stakes (G1) winner and Woodward runner-up Tacitus (47 votes), remains in 10^th place.

Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – Sept. 15, 2020*

RANK	HORSE	TOTAL VOTES	FIRST-PLACE VOTES
1	Maximum Security	282	20
2	Tom's d'Etat	230	7
3	Tiz the Law	205	3
4	Improbable	200	0
5	Authentic	185	0
6	By My Standards	156	0
7	Code of Honor	79	0
8	Global Campaign	71	0
9	Art Collector	64	0
10	Tacitus	47	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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Champion Maximum Security Back Out Front In NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

Champion Maximum Security asserted his class when he captured the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on August 22, an effort that has once again moved the son of New Year's Day to the head of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

In earning his tenth career triumph and fourth top-level victory, Maximum Security secured 16 first-place votes and 343 points to take the lead in the poll for the first time since March 2. The 4-year-old bay colt has won both of his starts since being transferred to the barn of Bob Baffert having previously annexed the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 25 in his first start under the care of the Hall of Fame trainer.

“He was a totally different horse today,” Baffert told the Del Mar publicity team after the Pacific Classic. He (jockey Abel Cedillo) got to know 'Max' last time and I'm happy for him. (Maximum Security) just does things effortlessly. He wasn't even blowing when he came back. I'm just so happy for this horse. It's not his fault what he went through. Today he showed that he is a great horse.”

With Maximum Security taking over the top spot, fellow multiple Grade 1-winner Vekoma drops one position to No. 2 with 8 first-place votes and 297 points. Tom's d'Etat (3 first-place votes, 250 points) is now third followed by Grade 1 Whitney Stakes-winner Improbable (232 points) in fourth.

Top sophomore Tiz the Law (11 first-place votes, 228 points) remains in fifth, just ahead of champion distaffer Midnight Bisou in sixth with 204 points. Zulu Alpha (109 points) ranks seventh while the Chad Brown-trained Rushing Fall (102 points) jumps up three spots to eighth on the strength of her triumph in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes on August 23.

Champion Monomoy Girl (1 first-place vote and 96 points) and By My Standards (81 points) round out the top 10.

With the September 5 Kentucky Derby less than two weeks away, Belmont and Travers Stakes hero Tiz the Law remains the leader in the NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll with 39 first-place votes and 390 points.

Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector remains in second with 320 points followed by Honor A. P. (274 points) and fellow Grade 1 winner Authentic (249).

After being tied for the fifth spot last week, Gamine now owns that position outright with 207 points – one point more than her expected Kentucky Oaks rival Swiss Skydiver (206). Thousand Words (138 points) holds in seventh with King Guillermo (102), Ny Traffic (77) and Travers runner-up Caracaro (60) completing the top 10.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

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Baffert: Jockey Club Gold Cup Under Consideration For Maximum Security

As an example of the strength and fitness of Maximum Security, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert pointed out that the 2019 3-year-old male champion was not breathing deeply as he returned to pose in front of the infield board following his victory Saturday in the Grade 1, $500,000 TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

This after running 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.24, leading wire-to-wire and putting an easy three lengths between himself and runner-up Sharp Samurai at the finish.

Trackside on Sunday morning, Baffert related how the 4-year-old son of New Year's Day practically dragged handlers back to the barn Saturday evening and was fine in the morning light. Baffert also said that as gratifying and emotional as the TVG Pacific Classic win was – it brought tears to the eyes of owners Gary and Mary West – it was not the most impressive of Maximum Security's two-race Del Mar tour de force.

“The most impressive race was the San Diego (Handicap, July 25),” Baffert said. “He was inside, got stopped, had to overcome trouble and a slow track and still won.”

Comparatively, the Pacific Classic, Maximum Security's second start for Baffert and second with Abel Cedillo in the irons, was a day at the beach. From an outside, five of six, post Maximum Security broke alertly and Cedillo was able to get positioned on the lead, near the rail and never relinquish it.

The inevitable next questions: what and where for his next start and will it be at a place where Cedillo or Luis Saez will ride, will be left for another day. Post-TVG Pacific Classic, Baffert had mentioned the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on October 10 as a prelim to the Breeders' Cup Classic – the TVG Pacific Classic was a “Win and You're In” qualifier – in November at Keeneland. But he's not making any commitment.

“I'm not sure yet,” Baffert said.

Mark Glatt, trainer of TVG Pacific Classic runner-up Sharp Samurai, said the 6-year-old gelding, making only his fourth start on dirt in a 21-race career, also came out of the race in good order. Sharp Samurai was entered in both the Classic and today's Grade II $150,000 Del Mar Mile on grass and opted to go in the Classic.

The $100,000 runner-up share of the Classic purse, compared to $90,000 for a win in the Mile, says it was a wise decision. But Glatt wasn't patting himself on the back.

“I don't have a crystal ball and he would have been tough in the race today,” Glatt said Sunday morning. “But we (now) know he can run on dirt and that gives us a lot of options.”

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Maximum Security Proves Best In Pacific Classic

There was no drama this time for Maximum Security, the 2019 champion 3-year-old male who's been in the headlines more than once for all the wrong reasons.

Under Abel Cedillo and making his second start for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, Gary and Mary West and the Coolmore partners' 4-year-old colt by New Year's Day took an early lead in the Grade 1, $500,000 Pacific Classic and never looked back, winning by three lengths over Sharp Samurai, who dogged him throughout the 1 1/4-mile contest.

Midcourt, the John Shirreffs-trained gelding who nearly upset Maximum Security in the G2 San Diego Handicap last out, finished third. Defending champion Higher Power was fourth, with Argentine runner Mirinaque fifth and Dark Vader last in the field of six older runners.

Maximum Security was the 2-5 favorite and covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.24 after setting fractions of :23.92, :47.98, 1:12.37 and 1:36.50.

The victory in the “Win and You're In” Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race earned Maximum Security an automatic, fees-paid berth for the Breeders' Cup Classic, to be run Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

This was the 10th time in 12 career starts that Maximum Security crossed the finish line first in a race. However, he suffered the indignity of being the first horse to be disqualified from an apparent victory for interference in the G1 Kentucky Derby in 2019. Then, earlier this year, Maximum Security finished first in the inaugural running of the $20-million Saudi Cup, but the winner's share of the purse has been held up after his previous trainer, Jason Servis, was arrested on federal charges of misbranding of drugs as part of an FBI probe into doping of racehorses.

One of the allegations against Servis is that he illegally gave Maximum Security a compounded substance prior to a race at New Jersey's Monmouth Park in 2019. Servis has pleaded not guilty in federal court.

“I've got tears in my eyes; I'm so happy,” said Gary West. “He looked so comfortable out there. There were a lot of good horses in that race, especially last year's winner (Higher Power). Sharp Samurai stuck with us. But we were best. I'm really proud of him.”

Unlike the San Diego Handicap, when Cedillo got into a tight spot early with Maximum Security, the Pacific Classic was smooth as silk. He glided to the early lead, maintained a half-length advantage over Sharp Samurai for the opening mile, then gradually pulled away down the stretch under intermittent urging. Higher Power tried to challenge the top pair in the run down the backstretch under Flavien Prat but could never get closer than a length behind the eventual winner.

Midcourt, who set the pace in the San Diego only to lose by a nose, was pocketed behind the top pair along the rail for much of the way but was never able to mount a serious rally, finishing 2 3/4 lengths behind Sharp Samurai.

“Bob told me to keep him off the rail,” said Cedillo, “because the speed was inside. If someone wanted to run up inside of us, I would have let them. He just galloped around the track. … He still had a little left at the end. I have to say this is probably the best horse I've ever ridden.”

“We mapped it out that he's the quickest horse,” Baffert said, “he's ready now and you can ride him with a lot more confidence. Once he took the lead I figured he'd be fine. I just didn't want any quarters in 22 (seconds). 'Max' was relaxing really nice. He was a totally different horse today. (Cedillo) got to know 'Max' last time and I'm happy for him. (Maximum Security) just does things effortlessly. He wasn't even blowing when he came back. I'm just so happy for this horse. It's not his fault what he went through. Today he showed that he is a great horse.”

The victory was Baffert's sixth in the Pacific Classic, putting him on even terms with the late Hall of Famer, Robert Frankel. The Pacific Classic was first run in 1991.

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