LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 9, 2019) — Centennial Farms’ 6-year-old Preservationist (247 votes), runaway winner of Saturday’s Suburban Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park, has jumped to No. 3 in the latest Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings poll, while Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s 4-year-old McKinzie (247 votes) keeps the No. 1 spot, followed closely by Godolphin’s 5-year-old two-time Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Thunder Snow (212 votes) in 2nd place.
Founded by Jimmy Jerkens, Preservationist, a Kentucky bred son of Arch from Flying Dixie by Dixieland Band, won the Suburban by 4 1/2 spans under Junior Alvarado, finishing the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.99 over Robert LaPenta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stables’ 4-year-old Catholic Boy (96 votes), who fell from third to sixth position from the Classic Rankings. In notching his first graded stakes triumph in his first effort preservationist, overcoming many ailments was making his eighth career start.
Charles Fipke’s 6-year-old homebred Hunting the Spirit (146) votes), winner of the Stephen Foster (G2) and Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s 4-year-old Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1) winner Vino Rosso (146 votes), are tied in fourth place.
Hronis Racing’s 6-year-old Santa Anita Handicap (G1) winner Gift Box (96 votes) is in seventh position, followed by Fox Hill Farms’ 3-year-old Omaha Beach (70 votes), winner of the Arkansas Derby (G1).
Salomon Del Valle’s 5-year-old Gunnevera (50 votes), runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), is tied in ninth place with Hronis Racing’s 5-year-old Catalina Cruiser (50 votes). Both Present Box and Catalina Cruiser are trained by John Sadler.
Rankings-topper McKinzie, trained by Bob Baffert, who trained Breeders’ Cup Classic winners Bayern, American Arrogate and Pharoah from 2014-2016, breezed five furlongs at Santa Anita at 1:01 on Monday. McKinzie is likely to begin next in the $1 million, 1??1/8-mile Whitney (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 3, a”Win and You’re In” for the Classic, which will be televised live on NBCSN as a part of this”Breeders’ Cup Challenge Collection Win and You Are In — Inspired by America’s Best Racing.”
The Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings, a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park, Nov. 2, are decided by a panel of top Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers and members of the Breeders’ Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings are announced each week by Oct. 15 and can be found on the Breeders’ Cup website along with the record of voting members.
In the Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings, each voter ranks horses by assigning their votes that are allotted in descending order.About Breeders’ Cup
The Breeders’ Cup administers the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing’s year-end Championships. The Breeders’ Cup also administers the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying series, which offers automatic places . The 2019 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, comprising 14 Graded Stakes with bags and awards totaling more than $30 million, will be held on November 1-2 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., also will be televised live by the NBC Sports Group. Breeders’ Cup press releases appear on the Breeders’ Cup site, www.breederscup.com. You can even adhere to the Breeders’ Cup on Twitter, societal media platforms Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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