Champion juvenile colt Forte secured his place atop Week Six of the NTRA's Top 3-Year-Old Poll with a dominant 4 1/2-length win in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Violence completed 1 1/16 miles over Gulfstream's fast main track in 1:43.12. Last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, Forte has led every edition of the poll thus far.
In second position remains G3 Southwest winner Arabian Knight (formerly trained by Bob Baffert, recently transferred to former Baffert assistant Tim Yakteen). The son of Uncle Mo is expected to target either the Santa Anita Derby or the Arkansas Derby.
This week's big mover was Practical Move, an impressive winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park. The Tim Yakteen-trained son of Practical Joke had previously won the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity, and was making his first start of the year in the San Felipe.
G3 Lecomte winner Instant Coffee sits in fourth (Brad Cox); G2 Rebel winner Confidence Game is fifth (Keith Desormeaux); G2 Risen Star winner Angel of Empire is sixth (Cox); G3 Holy Bull winner and G2 Fountain of Youth runner-up Rocket Can is seventh (Bill Mott), unraced in 2023, Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Cave Rock is eighth (Baffert); G3 Withers winner Hit Show is ninth (Cox); and impressive allowance winner Tapit Trice is tenth (Pletcher).
The 3-Year-Old poll represents horses competing up and through the Triple Crown.
TOP THREE-YEAR OLD POLL
The biggest change in Week Six of the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll was the position of Stilleto Boy, whose 14-1 victory in the Big 'Cap for trainer Ed Moger, Jr. boosted him from 24th to fourth in the poll.
Pegasus World Cup winner Art Collector remains atop the bunch. The Bill Mott trainee kicked off his 6-year-old season with the biggest win of his career, drawing away to win the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup by 4 1/2 lengths. Art Collector, sired by Bernardini, now owns 11 wins from 21 starts with earnings over $4 million.
Bob Baffert trainee Country Grammer, who came up just short of a victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup for a second year in a row, retained second position. Elite Power, Breeders' Cup winner and Champion Sprinter, also proved a powerful force in Saudi Arabia when he captured the Riyadh Dirt Sprint under Frankie Dettori. As a result, the Mott trainee was voted into third in this week's poll. Another Mott-trained stablemate, Cody's Wish, remains in fifth with his most recent start a win in last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL
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