Photo:

Carolyn Simancik / Eclipse Sportswire

Fierceness retained to the top spot Tuesday in the Breeders’
Cup Classic rankings for the fourth consecutive week in front of fellow
3-year-olds City of Troy and Forever Young after the eighth week
of voting.

The rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in
contention for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will be run Nov. 2
at Del Mar.

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Fierceness, owned by Repole Stable and trained by Todd
Pletcher, rose to the no. 1 ranking after his dramatic win Aug. 24 in the Grade
1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and
champion 2-year-old male earned 322 points.

Two-time England Group 1 winner City of Troy, owned by
Coolmore and trained by Aidan O’Brien, is in second place with 282 points.
Japan-based Forever Young, winner of the UAE Derby (G2) and third in
the Kentucky Derby for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, remains in third place with 223
points.

Dornoch, winner of the Belmont Stakes and Haskell (G1) for
trainer Danny Gargan, jumped from sixth place to fourth this week with 163
points.

Sierra Leone, the Chad Brown trainee who finished
third in the Travers and was second in the Kentucky Derby, remains in
fifth place with 162 points. Highland Falls, winner of Saratoga’s Sept. 1
Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), dropped from fourth place to sixth with 154 points.

Japan-based Ushba Tesoro, second in both the Saudi Cup (G1)
and in the Dubai World Cup (G1), stayed in seventh place with 121 points. Whitney
(G1) winner Arthur’s Ride, trained by Bill Mott, remained eighth
with 94 points.

Derma Sotogake, the Japan-based colt who finished second in
last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, is ninth with 86 points. Six-year-old Saudi
Cup winner Señor Buscador remains in 10th place with 85 points.

In the Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings, each voter rates
horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point system in descending order.  

The rankings are determined by a panel of leading
Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers and members of the Breeders’ Cup panel
of racing directors and secretaries. Rankings will be announced each week
through Oct. 8.