BloodHorse Celebrates Breeders' Cup's Top 40 Horses

With Breeders' Cup celebrating the 40th edition of its World Championships this year, BloodHorse thought it would be a good time to consider the event's 40 greatest horses to date.

After receiving nominations from staff and correspondents, we conducted a vote to determine the top 40. Keep in mind that we allowed voters wide latitude in considering "greatness." While most started with Breeders' Cup winners—and, for that matter, multiple winners—voters also found room to back courageous runners-up, a few especially accomplished horses that just competed, as well as horses that impacted the event from the breeding side.

Here's how we see it in the fall of 2023, beginning with horses 40-33.

40. Easy Goer

A great rivalry played out in the sixth edition of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Gulfstream Park, where Triple Crown rivals Sunday Silence and Easy Goer would throw down in the stretch, with Sunday Silence prevailing by a neck. That memorable effort, a runner-up finish to Is It True in the 1988 Juvenile (G1), and a Hall of Fame career land Easy Goer on this list.

39. High Chaparral

We'd love to say that High Chaparral dead-heated for 39th, but alas, that's not how the vote went. On the track his back-to-back victories in the 2002 and 2003 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) earned him champion grass horse honors in each of those seasons. That 2003 effort—the final race of the Epsom Derby (G1)/Irish Derby (G1) winner's career—would prove memorable as the event's only dead-heat win, to date, in Breeders' Cup history. He and Johar both rallied through the Santa Anita Park stretch before hitting the wire together. 

BloodHorse Celebrates Breeders' Cup's Top Horses, 32-25

38. Songbird 

In two Breeders' Cup starts, Songbird proved spectacular in victory and defeat. She looked the winner every step of the 2015 Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Keeneland, drawing off to a 5 3/4-length win. That graceful effort displayed her enormous talent; a display of her considerable grit would follow. As a 3-year-old in the Distaff (G1) a year later, Songbird hooked up with Beholder  more than a quarter-mile from the wire at Santa Anita before her older rival prevailed by a nose in one of the great races in Breeders' Cup history. 

37. Knicks Go  

Speaking of overwhelming talent, Knicks Go dropped jaws with front-running scores by 3 1/2 lengths in the 2020 Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland and by 2 3/4 lengths the following year in the Classic. Don't forget that at 2, Knicks Go—at 40-1—finished second to Game Winner in the 2018 Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

36. Azeri

Azeri entered the 2002 Distaff off of six straight wins and still managed to save something special for the 1 1/8-mile test at Arlington International Racecourse. She drew off in the stretch to post a five-length victory, which would be the most decisive stakes win of her career. Azeri would land Horse of the Year honors in 2002, see her win streak stretch to 11 in 2003 (all graded stakes including eight grade 1s), and stride into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.

35. All Along

While All Along finished second to Lashkari in the first edition of the Turf, the presence of the future Hall of Famer made it abundantly clear that top international runners would support this event. Campaigned by Daniel Wildenstein, All Along won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) in 1983, earned 1983 Horse of the Year honors off of three grade 1 wins in North America after that Arc win, and entered the 1984 Turf three starts after finishing third in that year's Arc.

34. Favorite Trick

As an early look at potential classic horses, the Juvenile would quickly become one of the glamour races of the World Championships. Favorite Trick completed an undefeated eight-race season with a 5 1/2-length score in the 1997 Juvenile to not only lock down a divisional championship but also land Horse of the Year honors—the first 2-year-old to earn that latter accolade since Secretariat in 1972.

33. Ferdinand

There's extra shine on the Classic in years that Kentucky Derby (G1) winners make it to the World Championships in good form. The 1987 race would feature two Derby winners and they would fully oblige the pre-race hype by dueling to the wire where Ferdinand prevailed by a nose over Alysheba. The outcome would lock up Horse of the Year for the victor and prove to be the lone Breeders' Cup win for riding legend Bill Shoemaker. 

Check back Oct. 30 for horses 32-25, Oct. 31 for horses 24-17, Nov. 1 for horses 16-9, and Nov. 2 for horses 8-1.