Reigning North American Horse of the Year Sovereignty and Japan's reigning Horse of the Year, Forever Young, are tied atop the Oct. 26 National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Top Thoroughbred Poll with 12 first-place votes each, though Sovereignty holds a thin one-point lead overall.
The anticipated matchup between the two will finally take place this weekend in the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Godolphin homebred Sovereignty has held the top spot since his dominating victory in the Aug. 8 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, with Forever Young closing in on him, especially after his Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) victory, a race Sovereignty missed because of a hoof abscess.
Sovereignty's stablemate, Knightsbridge , also owned and bred by Godolphin, is ranked third with three first-place votes and 227 points overall. It was confirmed Monday that Knightsbridge will run in the Breeders' Cup Classic, rather than the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). The son of Nyquist was pre-entered in both races.
Whitney Stakes runner-up and Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) entrant Nitrogen ranks in fourth place with 197 points overall. Nitrogen will make her third Breeders' Cup appearance this weekend. She was third in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) and second in last year's Breeders' Cup Distaff.
Winchell Thoroughbreds' Magnitude received one first-place vote and 158 points overall to rank fifth. Cherie DeVaux's Breeders' Cup entrants, Englishman and Golden Tempo, rank sixth and seventh, respectively. The standings could certainly see a shakeup following this weekend's Breeders' Cup races.
