'TDN Rising Star' and GI Travers Stakes winner Fierceness (City of Light), owned by Repole Stables, has stayed in the top spot in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings for the fourth consecutive week, in front of fellow 3-year-olds City of Troy (Justify) and Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) after the eighth week of voting.
Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher, rose to the top ranking following his dramatic Travers Stakes win at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 24. Last year's GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and champion 2-year-old male earned 322 votes. Mrs. John Magner, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith's Betfred Derby (G1) and G1 Juddmonte International Stakes winner City of Troy, trained by Aidan O'Brien, sits second with 282 votes. Susumu Fujita's Forever Young (Jpn), winner of the G2 UAE Derby and third in the GI Kentucky Derby, remains in third place with 223 votes for trainer Yoshito Yahagi.
West Paces Racing LLC, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC, Two Eight Racing, LLC, and Pine Racing Stables' Dornoch (Good Magic), winner of both the GI Haskell Stakes and the GI Belmont Stakes, jumped from sixth place to fourth this week with 163 votes for trainer Danny Gargan.
Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), the Chad Brown trainee who finished third in the Travers and was second in the Kentucky Derby, remains in fifth place (162 votes).
Godolphin's 4-year-old Highland Falls (Curlin), winner of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga Sept. 1, dropped from fourth place to sixth with 154 votes for trainer Brad Cox.
Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co. Ltd.'s 7-year-old Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), second in the G1 Saudi Cup and in the G1 Dubai World Cup, stayed in seventh place with 121 votes for trainer Noboru Takagi. Glassman Racing's 4-year-old GI Whitney Stakes winner Arthur's Ride (Tapit), trained by Bill Mott, remained eighth with 94 votes.
Rounding out the top ten, Hiroyuki Asanuma's 4-year-old Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), who finished second in last year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, is ninth with 86 votes, while Peacock Family Racing Stable, LLC's 6-year-old Saudi Cup winner Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) remains in 10th place with 85 votes for trainer Todd Fincher.
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