Forever Young stands on the edge of immortality. The Japan-based star has a great chance to join Tiznow as the only two-time winners of America’s richest race. Less than three weeks before his big opportunity in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Oct. 31 at Keeneland, and despite his worldwide success, the son of Real Steel probably falls a bit short of being on a short list of the all-time best winners of the prestigious race. That could all change with a second victory over the top dirt horses in the world, but for now he would not crack my top five.

In the 42-year history of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, no race has produced more champions and more members of racing’s Hall of Fame. The year-end Horse of the Year title routinely goes to the winner of the 1 1/4-mile fall classic. There are already 14 winners of the race in the Hall of Fame, with more soon to join. Clearly, boiling this all down to a top five will leave numerous great champions off the list.

Counting down from five, let’s look back at the greatest winners from the outstanding history of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. My criteria for ranking the top five, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame, was based simply on which horses I believed to be the overall best during their racing career, with their performance in the race only considered when breaking ties. With the amount of quality in the roll call of winners, there are no right or wrong answers as to who was best. This is simply my opinion, having followed the sport closely even before the inaugural edition of 1984.

Tiznow, No. 10, wins the 2001 Breeders' Cup Classic (BloodHorse Library/Mike Corrado)

5. Tiznow: A late-developing California-bred, few noticed when the Jay Robbins-trained runner entered his first stakes race in the summer of his sophomore season in 2000. A hard-fought win in Hollywood Park’s Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes would be a sign of things to come, however. Four months later he closed out a championship season by gamely denying international star Giant’s Causeway, the 2000 European Horse of the Year, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 4, 2000, at Churchill Downs. Pointed for a repeat as a 4-year-old, Tiznow won a pair of stakes impressively early in the year, before missing much of the season due to back problems. Defeated in his first two races back, the son of Cee’s Tizzy was not expected to win another Breeders’ Cup Classic, but he did just that, digging deep to turn back a big rally from Sakhee in the Belmont Park stretch in 2001. As tough a horse to get by as I have seen since the great Affirmed decades earlier, the 2000 Eclipse Award winner as Horse of the Year earns a place on this list over many other worthy champions as the only one to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic twice.

4. Alysheba: Part of an extraordinary crop which also included the likes of Bet Twice, Java Gold, Gulch, and Lost Code, just to name a few, Alysheba was able to distinguish himself as the best of the bunch. Good at 2, a champion at 3, and a bona-fide superstar at 4, the Jack Van Berg-trainee was the first winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic to enter racing’s Hall of Fame. He ran in the Breeders’ Cup in each of his three seasons on the track, first finishing a fast-closing third in the 1986 Juvenile. He won the Kentucky Derby in memorable fashion the following spring and also added the Preakness. His 3-year-old season ended when he just missed by a nose to older champion Ferdinand in the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Classic. A great horse at 4, the son of Alydar closed out his excellent career by winning four consecutive Grade 1 races, culminating with a rallying victory on an off track at Churchill Downs over a strong field in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Classic. All told, Alysheba won nine Grade 1 races and was disqualified from victory in another.

American Pharoah wins Breeders' Cup Classic (Eclipse Sportswire)

3. American Pharoah: It’s a shame this son Pioneerof the Nile never came back to race as an older horse. He accomplished plenty in his first two seasons on the racetrack, however. The first horse to sweep the Triple Crown in 37 years, American Pharoah was much talked about before his first race but “everything went wrong” for the favorite, according to his trainer Bob Baffert. After fading to fifth in his career debut he would head straight to Grade 1 company and not look back. Big wins in the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes proved enough to secure the champion 2-year-old male Eclipse Award. He then ran his winning streak to eight with decisive victories in the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and Haskell Invitational. His only loss after his career debut came when entangled in a speed duel in the Travers Stakes. He was passed late to finish second to Keen Ice in a huge upset. The 2015 Horse of the Year would make amends with a dominant victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. He remains the only horse in history to sweep the Grand Slam of the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. 

2. Sunday Silence: After nearly dying long before his racing career ever began, and then failing to sell at the Keeneland July yearling sale, not much was expected of this unassuming-looking son of Halo. By the time both his racing and breeding careers were over, however, he would be remembered as one of the most influential horses in the history of modern racing. He showed potential at age 2 with a win and two seconds in three races, but the racing career of Sunday Silence really took off at 3. Trained by Charlie Whittingham, he rattled off three straight impressive wins to begin the season, including an 11-length romp in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. That victory set the stage for an East-West showdown in the Kentucky Derby with his great rival Easy Goer. When it was all said and done, the Horse of the Year of 1989 defeated his champion foe in 3-of-4 tries including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and a memorable win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park. His career was cut short as an older horse due to injury, but in 14 career races, he never failed to finish worse than second. After his racing was over, he became a breed-shaping stallion in Japan as their one irreplaceable sire before his untimely death at the age of 16.

1. Cigar: Selecting any single horse as the best out of all these spectacular champions is not easy, but it’s hard to look past the racing accomplishments of this great runner. It wasn’t until the Maryland-bred son of Palace Music made the switch from turf to dirt in his 4-year-old season that his true greatness was uncovered. Transferred to trainer Bill Mott earlier that year, Cigar made magic on the main track. First winning an Aqueduct allowance by eight lengths and then the Grade 1 NYRA Mile by seven lengths, he would never see the turf again. At 5, he was flawless. In the first of two straight Horse of the Year seasons, the bay horse would go a perfect 10-for-10. He won all of the races easily, of which eight of them were Grade 1s, including the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Cigar would continue his success at the age of 6, rattling off big wins in Florida, Dubai, Boston, and Chicago. His massive 16-race winning streak finally came to an end, upset by Dare and Go in the Pacific Classic after a torrid early pace. He followed that up with a big win in the Woodward Stakes for his final career victory. Despite reported hoof issues, he just missed in his final two races, losing both the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic by a head. He retired as America’s top money earner with just a shade under $10 million and collected his second Horse of the Year title soon after.