NTRA | Horse Racing Free Tips

Charlatan Takes Over No. 1 Spot In NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

Though he was caught in late stretch en route to finishing second in the $20 million Saudi Cup on February 20, Charlatan's game effort against international competition was enough for the son of Speightstown to garner favor among voters, who moved the colt into the No. 1 spot on this week's National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Charlatan finished a length behind Mishriff in the Saudi Cup – the first time in five career starts that the chestnut colt had not crossed the wire in front. That outing earned Charlatan 25 first-place votes and 353 points to move him up one spot on the poll.

“(Charlatan) ran a big race,” Baffert told the Santa Anita Park notes team on Sunday morning. “He put away Knicks Go, just ran him down, turned in a gallant effort and it's too bad he got beat. That's a demanding track. The stretch is so long, and he ran hard. The way he ran, it shows what a brilliant horse he is.”

Knicks Go, who led the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll last week, dropped to second in the balloting with 1 first-place vote and 288 points after running fourth in the Saudi Cup.

Godolphin's unbeaten homebred Maxfield, winner of the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 13, remains third with 5 first-place votes and 265 points while champion distaffer Monomoy Girl (6 first-place votes, 264 points) holds in fourth.

Swiss Skydiver, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020, moved up to fifth with 160 points followed by Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes winner Colonel Liam (156 points).

Reigning champion female sprinter Gamine is seventh with 93 points with Jesus' Team (92 points), champion turf male Channel Maker (73), and champion male sprinter Whitmore (55) completing the top 10.

There were no positional changes in this week's NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll as champion juvenile male Essential Quality remains the clear leader with 26 first-place votes and 345 points.

Life Is Good, winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 2, remains second with 5 first-place votes and 295 points while Mandaloun, who captured the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 13, is third with 4 first-place votes and 238 points.

Holy Bull Stakes winner Greatest Honour (1 first-place vote, 225 points) sits fourth with Medina Spirit (188 points) in fifth. Caddo River (1 first-place vote, 165 points) remains sixth followed by Concert Tour (101 points), Keepmeinmind (81), and Jackie's Warrior (70). Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner Risk Taking (65 points) completes the top 10.

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 Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll concludes following the Belmont Stakes on June 5 and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through Nov. 6.

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NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop Joins TDN Writers’ Room

There's plenty to talk about in racing these days, and NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning to dig into a good deal of the sport's most pressing topics. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Waldrop talked about how to capitalize and sustain the positive handle trends of the past year, how to pay for the groundbreaking Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, what movement he expects on H-2B visas with a new administration and more.

“Looking back over the last quarter and even the last half of last year, we were trending five, six, seven percent up over the prior year,” Waldrop said of the increase in handle the sport has seen. “So those trends are very positive. I do think they are related to the fact that new people are coming into the business. They're seeing horse racing as a viable option for the first time. I think that is attributable to a lot of the marketing dollars that were spent in 2020 to get eyeballs on our racing for the first time. And I think that's the way we keep this going. We continue to show our races on television, get more people in front of TV sets, mobile screens, all the distribution channels that we have out there, which are many now and are growing. That's the way to continue to grow.”

“Another way that I think we have to look at in 2021 is to get on more sports betting platforms,” he continued. “Sports betting is spreading across the country. It's a huge and growing business. If we can just get 5% of the number of people who are now betting on these mobile sports betting apps, that would be a huge win for horse racing. And I think in 2021, this is the year to really focus on what we can do to to piggyback on the success of sports betting in this country. To grow our visibility even greater.”

Asked about the tricky issue of funding HISA, Waldrop said that replacing the inefficiencies of racing's current patchwork regulation system will lead to savings on its own.

“HISA and the Authority, is all about centralizing the administration of medication control and racing safety matters. Putting it into one office. There will be significant savings. There'll be efficiencies when you compare costs that we now have for 30 state agencies,” he said. “I think 10 years ago we were spending almost $30 million a year on post race drug testing. That's an astronomical number. I don't think people realized we were spending that much money on drug testing. We're spending more than that now under the 30 state agencies. The second thing to remember is that HISA contemplates a broader-based and more equitable contribution from all industry participants, so not just one group or one tax will be paying for the costs of regulation.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to a strong weekend of stakes at Fair Grounds, highlighted some key points from last week's exclusive interview with USADA CEO Travis Tygart and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, analyzed the passage of a historical horse racing legalization bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Stablemates Knicks Go, Essential Quality Top First NTRA Polls Of 2021

Last month, Brad Cox earned his first Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer as a result of his barn's superior exploits during the 2020 season. The Louisville native looks primed to continue that stellar run this year as his trainees Knicks Go and reigning juvenile male champion Essential Quality rank as the top vote getters in the first editions of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll and NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll, respectively, for 2021.

Knicks Go captured the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in track-record setting fashion last November to cap off his 2020 campaign. The 5-year-old son of Paynter further signaled his presence as a leader in the handicap division when he began 2021 with a triumph in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes on Jan. 23, an effort that helped earn him 27 first-place votes and 341 total points.

Knicks Go is slated to be among the favorites for Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup where he is set to face fellow Grade 1 winner Charlatan, who notched 4 first-place votes and 250 points to rank second on the year's first Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Godolphin's unbeaten homebred Maxfield, winner of the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 13, ranks third with 1 first-place vote and 232 points while champion distaffer Monomoy Girl (3 first-place votes, 223 points) sits fourth.

Colonel Liam, who captured the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes on January 23, is fifth with 146 points followed by champion filly Swiss Skydiver (124 points), Jesus' Team (102), and champion female sprinter Gamine (72).

Channel Maker, the champion turf male of 2020, is ninth with 56 points while champion male sprinter Whitmore (55 points) rounds out the top ten.

Godolphin homebred Essential Quality went unbeaten in three starts during his 2-year-old campaign, including victories in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity and Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Fittingly, the son of Tapit heads up the year's first Top Three-Year-Old Poll with 24 first-place votes and 325 points.

The Bob Baffert-trained Life Is Good ranks second with 5 first-place votes and 272 points while Mandaloun, winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes this past weekend, is third with 4 first-place votes and 212 points.

Holy Bull Stakes winner Greatest Honour (1 first-place vote, 204 points) sits fourth with Medina Spirit (176 points) in fifth. Caddo River (1 first-place vote, 137 points) ranks sixth followed by Concert Tour (85 points), Keepmeinmind (84), and Jackie's Warrior (66). Risk Taking (63 points) completes the top ten.

The full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Polls can be found on the NTRA website at:

https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-february-16-2021/

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Goodall Claims Elusive NHC Tour Title

For years a top player on the National Horseplayers' Championship (NHC) tour, Sally Goodall claimed her first NHC title in 2020, earning 22,330 points to just edge Dylan Donnelly. Goodall's early-season surge–she had secured two spots in the NHC by March–and consistency throughout 2020 saw her outfinish Donnelly, a five-time contest winner, by just 54 points.

Goodall's husband Richard won the NHC title in 2008 and was inducted to the NHC Hall of Fame last February. The couple freely admits that they schedule their year around the NHC, held annually in Las Vegas.

“We focus on NHC contests every day,” Sally Goodall said. “Since I met my husband, he took me to the racetrack and we play the horses for fun. He has mentored me and taught me very well how to bet on horses for the contests. We have fun and we've gotten lucky too.”

For her efforts, Goodall took home the $100,000 first-place prize, a 2022 NHC seat and the chance to play for an additional $5 million at this year's NHC, to be held at Bally's on the Las Vegas Strip Aug. 27-29.

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