Omaha Beach Rejoins Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's 4-year-old McKinzie maintains his lead over William S. Farish's 3-year-old Code of Honor and Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's 4-year-old Vino Rosso in the latest Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, with each horse holding onto the same positions as last week.

Trained by Bob Baffert, McKinzie (261 votes), winner of both the Alysheba Stakes (G2) and the Whitney (G1), has been the weekly Classic Rankings leader since June 11. Code of Honor (245 votes), trained by Shug McGaughey, was placed first in the recent Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Belmont Park following disqualification of Vino Rosso (222 votes), who was placed second in that race.

China Horse Club International, WinStar Farm and Head of Plains Partners' 5-year-old Yoshida (159 votes), third in the Woodward Stakes (G1), moves up from fifth to fourth place this week. Hronis Racing's TVG Pacific Classic (G1) winner Higher Power (126 votes), rises from sixth into fifth place.

Fox Hill Farms' 3-year-old Omaha Beach (111 votes), a dramatic winner of the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1) on Sunday, has re-entered the Classic Rankings at No. 6. Trained by Richard Mandella, Omaha Beach was making his first start since winning the Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 13.

Centennial Farm's 6-year-old Preservationist  (83 votes), ranked seventh this week, was retired on Tuesday.

Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's 5-year-old mare Elate (80 votes) drops from fourth to eighth place following her second-place finish in Sunday's Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.

Mongolian Stable's 4-year-old Mongolian Groom (56 votes), who upset McKinzie in the Awesome Again Stakes (G1), drops from seventh to ninth place. Mongolian Groom is followed by Charles Fipke's Seeking the Soul (39 votes) in 10th. Seeking the Soul, trained by Dallas Stewart, won the Stephen Foster (G2) at Churchill Downs in June, and was recently fourth in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

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 determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers and members of the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings are announced each week through Oct. 15 and can be found on the Breeders' Cup website along with the list of voting members.

In the Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, each voter ranks horses by assigning their allotted votes on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.

Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings Top 10—Oct. 8, 2019 *

*Note—The Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no official bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders' Cup Classic.