Each week a panel of media members, horseplayers, and Breeders’ Cup World Championships officials release a poll tabulating their votes on the nation’s top contenders for the 2025 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. The rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention and are determined by each voter ranking their top 10 horses with points assigned on a descending 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Week eight of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings are led by 3-year-old Sovereignty, the winner of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets who was the runaway 10-length winner of the Aug. 23 DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. This week’s big mover in the Power Rankings was Baeza, the winner of $1 million, Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 20 at Parx Racing, who moved up to No. 7. Pennsylvania Derby runner-up Magnitude joined the rankings for the first time at No. 10. Nysos, the horse formerly ranked No. 8, is out of the newest rankings after his connections announced he would point to either the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint or the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
The rankings will be updated each week. The results of the latest poll are below.
Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings for Sept. 23, 2025
1. Sovereignty (33 first-place votes)
Owner: Godolphin
Trainer: Bill Mott
Jockey: Junior Alvarado
2025 record: 6 starts – 5 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Last race: 1st, DraftKings Travers Stakes, Aug. 23 at Saratoga Race Course
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
2. Fierceness (4 first-place votes)
Owners: Repole Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor, and Susan Magnier
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: John Velazquez
2025 record: 4 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Last race: 1st, Pacific Classic Stakes, Aug. 30 at Del Mar
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
3. Sierra Leone (2 first-place votes)
Owners: Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brooke Smith
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Flavien Prat
2025 record: 4 starts – 1 win – 2 seconds – 1 third
Last race: 2nd, Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes, Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
4. Mindframe
Owners: Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
2025 record: 4 starts – 3 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Last race: DNF, Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes, Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
5. Journalism
Trainer: Michael McCarthy
Jockey: Umberto Rispoli
2025 record: 7 starts – 4 wins – 3 seconds – 0 thirds
Last race: 2nd, Pacific Classic Stakes, Aug. 30 at Del Mar
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
6. Forever Young (1 first-place vote)
Owner: Susumo Fujita
Trainer: Yoshito Yahagi
Jockey: Ryusei Sakai
2025 record: 2 starts – 1 win – 0 seconds – 1 third
Last race: 3rd, Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline, April 5 at Meydan Racecourse
Next race: Nippon TV Hai, Oct. 1 at Funabashi Racecourse in Japan
7. Baeza
Owners: C R K Stable LLC and Grandview Equine
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Jockey: Hector Isaac Berrios
2025 record: 7 starts – 2 wins – 3 seconds – 2 thirds
Last race: 1st, Pennsylvania Derby, Sept. 20 at Parx Racing
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
8. Antiquarian
Owner: Centennial Farms
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: TBD
2025 record: 4 starts – 2 wins – 2 seconds – 0 thirds
Last race: 1st, Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes, Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
Owner: Godolphin
Trainer: Brad Cox
Jockey: Luis Saez
2025 record: 3 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 1 third
Last race: 3rd, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course
Next race: Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar
10. Magnitude
Owner: Winchell Thoroughbreds
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Ben Curtis
2025 record: 5 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 1 third
Last race: 2nd, Pennsylvania Derby, Sept. 20 at Parx Racing
Next race: TBD, possibly Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 1 at Del Mar