Essential Quality Retains Top Spot in Classic Rankings

Essential Quality, the Belmont Stakes and the Runhappy Travers Stakes winner retained the No. 1 position for the third consecutive week 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. This year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic will be run at Del Mar in Del Mar, California, on Nov. 6 as the final race of the 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Owned by Godolphin and trained by Brad Cox, the 3YO Essential Quality accumulated 273 votes and leads stablemate Knicks Go, who is in second place with 270 votes. Also trained by Cox, the 5-year-old Knicks Go has won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park and the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga this year. Godolphin's 4YO Maxfield, trained by Brendan Walsh, stayed in third place with 221 votes. A three-time winner in 2020, Maxfield secured an automatic berth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic when he captured the Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs in June. Belmont Stakes runner-up Hot Rod Charlie, trained by Doug O'Neill, is in fourth place with 178 votes. Owned by Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss, Hot Rod Charlie has been entered in the Sept. 25 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing.

George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp's Max Player have won two Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races in the Longines Classic Division this year, scoring victories in the Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park in July and The Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga Race Course earlier this month. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Max Player is in fifth place with 163 votes.