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Letruska Ascends To The Top Of NTRA Thoroughbred Poll

St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska has ascended to the No. 1 position in the latest NTRA National Thoroughbred Poll, ending the 14-week reign of Godolphin's 4-year-old Mystic Guide, who was defeated Saturday in Belmont's Grade 2 Suburban.

Letruska, trained by Fausto Gutierrez, has won four of five starts this year. She made a big name for herself when defeating last year's older dirt female champion Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in April, and then swept the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 5 and the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs by 5 ¾ lengths on June 26. A bay daughter of 2010 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, Letruska has 11 first-place votes and 302 points, moving up from second place last week.

Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfied is now in second place with six first-place votes and 266 points. Trained by Brendan Walsh, Maxfield dominated the June 26 Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs with a powerful 3 ¼-length win to improve his overall record to seven wins in eight starts.

Fellow Godolphin runner Mystic Guide lost a hard-fought battle to Max Player by a neck in the Suburban over a sloppy track in his first start since winning the Dubai World Cup on March 27. Trained by Mike Stidham, Mystic Guide received nine first-place votes and 260 points while falling to third place in this week's poll.

Klaravich Stables' 4-year-old gelding Domestic Spending, the only turf horse in the top 10, rose from fifth to fourth place this week with seven first-place votes and 224 points. Trained by Chad Brown, Domestic Spending won the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Belmont on June 5.

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's 4-year-old Silver State, unbeaten in four starts this year, dropped from fourth to fifth place. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Silver State, winner of the Grade 1 Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on June 5, has one first-place vote and 222 points.

Godolphin's third star in the top 10 is the 3-year-old Essential Quality, winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets. Trained by Brad Cox, Essential Quality is in sixth place with two first-place votes and 197 points.

Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go, also trained by Cox, turned in one of the top performances of the year last Friday evening when he won the Grade 3, 1 1/8-mile Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap by 10 ¼ lengths. Winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park in January, Knicks Go (129 points) rose from ninth to seventh place.

The 4-year-old Gamine (83 points), last year's champion female sprinter, was another sparkling winner over the holiday weekend. Owned by Michael Lund Petersen and trained by Bob Baffert, Gamine captured Monday's Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos by 10 lengths, improving her record to three for three this year, and remaining in eighth place in the poll.

George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp's Max Player rose from 23rd to No. 9 following his determined win in the Suburban at 11-1. Trained by Asmussen, the 4-year-old Max Player (69 points) won his first race of the year in three starts.

Spendthrift Farm LLC and Madaket Stables' 6-year-old Monomoy Girl rounds out the top 10 with 58 points. A two-time winner of the Grade 1 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, Monomoy Girl, also trained by Cox, won this year's Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through Nov. 6.

The full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Polls can be found on the NTRA website at: https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-july-6-2021/

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Amendment Banning Transportation of Horses for Slaughter Passes House

An amendment that would ban the transportation of horses across state lines or to Canada or Mexico for slaughter for human consumption passed the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday. The amendment is part of the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST) Act, bipartisan legislation supported by President Joe Biden that now moves to the Senate for consideration.

The amendment, which would effectively ban horse slaughter in the United States if it becomes law, was sponsored in the House of Representatives by Troy Carter (D-LA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and John Katko (R-NY) and was supported by a number of U.S. Thoroughbred industry organizations, including the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA). In a press release, the NTRA said it will advocate for the inclusion of the amendment as part of any final infrastructure bill passed by Congress.

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Letruska, Maxfield Move Up In NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

Godolphin's 4-year-old Mystic Guide remained in first place in the latest NTRA National Thoroughbred Poll, but St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska and Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfield, moved up to second and third place, respectively, following dominating victories at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

Mystic Guide, trained by Mike Stidham, received 21 first-place votes and 313 points. On Saturday, Mystic Guide breezed 4 furlongs in 48.2 at Fair Hill in Maryland in preparation for the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park on July 3. A chestnut son of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, Mystic Guide will be making his first start since winning the Group 1 Dubai World Cup on March 27.

Letruska, trained by Fausto Gutierrez, won Saturday's Grade 2 Fleur de Lis by 5 ¾ lengths for her fourth win in five starts in 2021. A bay daughter of 2010 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, Letruska has two first-place votes and 268 points, moving from third to second place this week.

Equally impressive on Saturday was Maxfield, who swept to a powerful 3 ¼-length victory in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes. A dark bay son of 2007 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Maxfield jumped from seventh to third place in the poll. Trained by Brandan Walsh, Maxfield increased his first-place votes from one to five this week, and has a total of 253 points.

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's 4-year-old Silver State dropped from second to fourth place, registering one first-place vote and 229 points. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Silver State is unbeaten in four starts this year, including the Grade 1 Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont.

Klaravich Stables' 4-year-old gelding Domestic Spending, the only turf horse in the top 10, is in fifth place with six first-place votes and 219 points. Trained by Chad Brown, Domestic spending won the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Belmont on June 5.

Godolphin's 3-year-old Essential Quality, winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, is in sixth place. Trained by Brad Cox, Essential Quality has one first-place vote and 185 points.

Spendthrift Farm LLC and Madaket Stables' 6-year-old Monomoy Girl, the 2020 older dirt female Eclipse Award winner, rose from ninth to seventh place, and has 87 points.

The 4-year-old Gamine (109 points), last year's champion female sprinter, trained by Bob Baffert, stayed in eighth place.

Korea Racing Stable's Knicks Go (37 points), winner of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational, moved up one spot to ninth place.

SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Frederick Hertrich III, John Fielding and Golconda Stables' 4-year-old Charlatan (135 points), who finished second in the Group 1 Saudi Cup for Bob Baffert, is in 10th place and received 32 votes. Charlatan has subsequently been retired.

The full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Polls can be found on the NTRA website at: https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-june-28-2021/

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View From The Eighth Pole: Keeping HISA Out Of Racing’s Alphabet Soup

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HiSA) got off to a solid start last month when Maryland attorney Charles Scheeler was elected by fellow directors to chair the nine-person board that will act as an independent oversight body on medication and safety issues for Thoroughbred racing in the United States.

The board includes some names that should be familiar to horse racing people (i.e., former Breeders' Cup and National Thoroughbred Racing Association executive D.G. Van Clief Jr., retired Keeneland president Bill Thomason, former New York Racing Association chief financial officer and president Ellen McClain, and Joseph De Francis, whose family previously owned Maryland tracks Laurel and Pimlico).

But there are others who bring major league sports experience to the Authority. Adolpho Birch spent 23 years at the National Football League's headquarters focusing on enforcement of integrity and drug issues, while Leonard Coleman served as president of Major League Baseball's National League (and is a former member of the Churchill Downs Inc. board of directors).

From the world of politics comes board member Steve Beshear, who served as Kentucky's attorney general, lieutenant governor and governor (his son Andy is Kentucky's current governor). Dr. Susan Stover from the University of California at Davis has blazed a trail of ground-breaking research on equine injuries and prevention. Scheeler played a significant role in Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report, which investigated the use of performance-enhancing drugs in that sport.

It is an outstanding group with a variety of skill sets that should work well together as the industry moves into uncharted waters with the development of national rules on medication and safety issues that will require the approval of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

The Authority's second step from the gate was a stumble – temporarily it is hoped – with the appointment of industry organization veteran Hank Zeitlin as interim executive director. Zeitlin is like that retread football coach with a mediocre record who keeps finding new teams to give him a chance. He's gone from management positions at The Jockey Club, to Equibase, to the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America in an undistinguished manner.

I'm going to take Scheeler's word for it that Zeitlin is being hired on an interim basis only – that Zeitlin's institutional knowledge will be somewhat useful as Scheeler and other board members get up to speed. He is not the person for the job long-term if the Authority is looking for a dynamic executive as its leader.

I'd almost forgotten that there still is a Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and that Zeitlin was collecting an industry paycheck from them. The TRA is not to be confused with the NTRA – the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. They are two distinct groups in racing's alphabet soup of organizations.

I'm not even sure what the TRA does any more, except to count and pass through the money its racetrack members earn for their ownership share of Equibase, the industry's official database that the TRA tracks co-own with The Jockey Club (TJC). Long ago, including during Zeitlin's tenure there as president, the Equibase board decided the company's primary role was to be profitable rather than to serve as a marketing and growth tool for Thoroughbred racing as almost all other sports use their historical data.

Does the industry still need the TRA? Does it really need the NTRA? Can it get by without the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, or the Association of Racing Commissioners International?

This might be a good time for a downsized industry to look at consolidating some of these organizations and their responsibilities. TRA could probably outsource Zeitlin's current job as its executive vice president to an accountant. The Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, a subsidiary of TRA that once served as an important integrity and security division for horse racing, may fulfill some role in connection with the Authority, particularly when it comes to wagering security, the primary area in which the TRPB is now involved.

The NTRA is a ghost of what it was originally designed to be when it was established nearly 25 years ago. Having long ago given up on being a “league office” for horse racing, the NTRA in recent years has focused on lobbying in Washington, D.C., running a profitable handicapping tournament, and presenting the Eclipse Awards. With NTRA president Alex Waldrop announcing that he will retire at year's end, this might be an opportune time to divvy up those responsibilities to existing groups like The Jockey Club or Equibase and save some money on salaries.

Same goes for the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), whose only real purpose is the grading of North American stakes. Since The Jockey Club prepares the statistical data at TOBA's behest for the annual grading process, that responsibility could easily be transferred. TOBA has been operating in the red in recent years, with its chief executive taking home roughly 30% of the organization's annual revenue.

And what about the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI)? Its primary function seems to be the development of model rules for a variety of activities in racing, including medication and safety policies. With those two categories falling under the Authority's umbrella, there will be a lot less meat on the bone for ARCI president Ed Martin to chew on.

Nothing will change, of course. Some of these organizations with uninspired leadership have evolved into nothing more than jobs programs, and they're not going away. Racing cannot afford to let the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) be steered toward mediocrity and become just another ingredient in racing's bland alphabet soup. Its success is too important.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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