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Most racing fans and industry experts consider the Classic to be the most prestigious in the world. The reason for this is plainly evident: it features by far the highest-quality field in any single race run today, and while the Dubai World Cup features a higher purse these days, it still takes a backseat to the Classic in terms of the quality of the field.

Weight assignments for the Classic are a little bit different than in most races. Here they are:

4-year-olds and up: 126 pounds
Northern Hemisphere 3-year-olds: 122 pounds
Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds: 117 pounds
The reason for the difference in weight between 3-year-olds is that thoroughbreds foaled in the Northern Hemisphere increase in age for racing purposes on January 1, while Southern Hemisphere thoroughbreds do not increase in age until August 1.

Most of the time, but not always, if the winner of the race is an American thoroughbred, he goes on to win the Elipse Award for Horse of the Year, U.S. racing's highest honor. As of the 2007 running of the race, Jerry Baily and Chris McCarron are tied for most wins by a jockey with 5, several trainers have won the race twice, while Tiznow is the only horse to win the race twice, winning back-to-back Classic's in 2000-01. In the 24-year history of the event, 3-year-olds have only won 8 times, while no filly has won as of yet. It's unclear as of this writing whether or not Curlin will run in 2008 Classic at Santa Anita because of that track's new sythetic surface, called Pro-Ride. If he runs in the race he will certainly be the favorite, and seek to join Tiznow as the second two-time winner of this race.