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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2002
The lead-up to the 19th Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships will be a more familiar process for casual fans, as the race's organizing committee has announced a new points system to rate the contenders in the eight categories.
Six rankings -- the Distaff, Filly and Mare Turf, Mile, Turf, Sprint and Classic -- were released for the first time this week.
The early leaders: Classic and Turf, Sakhee (Britain); Distaff, Azeri (United States); Sprint, Caller One (United States); Filly and Mare Turf, Banks Hill (France); Mile, Keltos (France).
The Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies ratings will begin this summer when those horses start racing.
The Breeders' Cup, representing the most star-powered day of racing each year, will be held Oct. 26 at Arlington Park outside Chicago.
The new rankings, publicized by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, are determined by a weighted analysis of performances in select graded stakes. They will not, however, be the final arbiter of the 14-horse fields for each race. Overpre-scribed fields will be defined by a selection process implemented by Breeders' Cup racing secretaries and directors. The first seven spots will be determined by points earned by placing in graded stakes.
The next seven will be filled by the new poll.
Using points earned in graded stakes, Harlan's Holiday (United States) leads in the Classic, Beat Hollow (Britain) in the Turf, Ladies Din (United States) in the Mile, Snow Ridge (United States) in Sprint and Astra (United States) in the Filly and Mare Turf.
BACK AGAIN: War Emblem returned to the track Tuesday for the first time since a bobble out of the gate in the Belmont Stakes cost him a chance at the Triple Crown.
The colt galloped 13/8 miles at Santa Anita and came out fine, trainer Bob Baffert said. Baffert confirmed War Emblem will race again this year, but he said plans will not be made until he confers with owner Ahmed Salman and racing manager Richard Mulhall.
BURGLED.COM: A trophy won by fabled champion Seabiscuit and stolen more than 50 years ago was recovered this week after it was put up for sale on eBay.
The case is so cold that FBI officials said charges are unlikely to be filed, and the Howard family, which campaigned the 1938 horse of the year, said the trophy will be donated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
NTRA POLL: Street Cry vaulted to the top spot in the NTRA all-ages poll this week after a convincing 61/2-length victory Saturday in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. War Emblem remained in second and Xtra Heat fell from first to third.
-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.