Days After Winning Popular Grade 2 Equestrian Race, Horse Worth $2,954,830 Achieves Rare Feat

The Breeder’s Cup is one of the prestigious cups that carries a rich heritage and has an undeniable mark on equestrian history. Envisioned by John Gaines, the idea behind setting up the cup was to have a year-end championship for horse racing. A place where horses from all over the world participate to find out who is the world’s best.

This year, the race will take place on November 4 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Before the race, the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic releases a weekly ranking of the top ten horses in contention for the cup. This week, the winner of the recent Grade 2 Jim Dandy stakes, Forte, has secured first position for the second consecutive week.

Rating as the top is in his strong equine muscles

On August 15, the new top ten contenders for the Grade 1 $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic list were released. In the list, Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s owned three-year-old colt was placed in first position for the second week. The son of Voilance, trained by Todd Pletcher, received 294 votes, of which 19 were for first place. This is a rare feat for a horse worth $2,954,830 who is among the top contenders for the upcoming Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, and Breeder’s Cup Classic as reported by the Paulick Report.

The winner of the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes, White Abarrio, secured second place with 226 votes. Geaux Rocket Ride, winner of the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes, is placed third with 222 votes, and Mage, winner of the Kentucky Derby, is placed fourth with 211 votes. In the fifth position stands another triple crown winner from the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, the Blue Rose Farm-owned Arcangelo, with 193 votes. The sixth position went to Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes winner Defunded with 109 votes, and Lucky Seven Stable-owned Rattle N Roll secured the seventh position with 106 votes.

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Jeff Drown-owned Zandon placed in eighth position with 71 votes, and Bruce Lunsford-owned Art Collector placed in ninth position with 66 votes. This week’s new entry is Godolphin-owned Proxy, the winner of the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup Stakes, which was placed in tenth place with 56 votes.

How the equestrian ranking is done?

The Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic weekly rankings are decided by a panel that consists of 43 members who are from the Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, members of the Breeders’ Cup Racing Directors, or Secretaries Panel. The rankings are announced every week on Tuesday and will continue until October 10. In the Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings, every voter rates horses in descending order. They first vote for the tenth position, then the ninth, and so on and so forth until they reach the first position. The voter votes two times, one generally for performance and one for the first-place position.

Forte’s achievement of the rare feat shows his actual value in the eyes of industry experts and the potential he carries this year for the various races left in the season, including the Breeder’s Cup Classic.

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