top 3-year-old poll | Horse Racing Free Tips

Following his stirring half-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1 147th Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit, has risen to No. 1 in this week's National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top 3-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll.

Sent away at 12-1, Medina Spirit, a Florida-bred son of Protonico, gave Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a record seventh Kentucky Derby win and a fourth Derby victory for Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. Medina Spirit, seventh in last week's poll, received 34 first-place votes and 374 points to take over the top spot from Godolphin's 2020 2-year-old champion Essential Quality, who finished fourth as the 5-2 Derby favorite. Trained by Brad Cox, the previously unbeaten Essential Quality, who led the Top 3-Year Old Poll since the first week on Feb. 16, is now in second place, with two first-place votes and 315 points.

The Cox-trained Mandaloun, who finished second in the Derby by a half-length, moves from 12th to third place this week. Owned by Juddmonte, Mandaloun has 284 points. Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing, Strauss Bros Racing and Gainesway Thoroughbreds' Hot Rod Charlie, third in the Derby, drops back one position to fourth place with 266 points for trainer Doug O'Neill.

Shadwell Stable's bay filly, Malathaat, zooms from 20th to fifth place following her dramatic win by a neck over Search Results in the Grade 1 147th Longines Kentucky Oaks last Friday. The undefeated Malathaat, trained by Todd Pletcher, has one first-place vote and 179 points.

Gary and Mary West's homebred Concert Tour, winner of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, rises from eighth to sixth place in the poll. Also trained by Baffert, Concert Tour has 95 points. A third Baffert-trained runner in the top 10 is WinStar Farm and CHC's Life is Good, who improved from ninth to seventh place. Off the Triple Crown trail due to injury, Life is Good has one first-place vote and 94 points.

Another major mover this week was Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior, who captured Saturday's Grade 2 Pat Day Mile presented by LG&E and KU. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Jackie's Warrior goes from 31st to eighth place, garnering 82 points. Hronis Racing and Talla Racing's Rock Your World, drops from second to 9th place this week after a 17th-place finish in the Derby while being compromised at the start. Trained by John Sadler, Rock Your World has 69 points. Maintaining 10th place is another Asmussen-trained colt, Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon, who finished sixth in the Derby and has 65 points.

Godolphin's 4-year-old Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide, Group 1 Saudi Cup runner-up Charlatan, and reigning older dirt female champion Monomoy Girl again hold down the top three positions in this week's National Thoroughbred Poll. Trained by Mike Stidham, Mystic Guide received 31 first-place votes and 350 points. The Baffert-trained 4-year-old Charlatan has six first-place votes and 322 points. The 6-year-old mare Monomoy Girl, trained by Cox, is in third place with 229 points.

Robert and Lawana Low's 4-year-old Colonel Liam (199 points), who finished in a dead heat for first with Domestic Spending in Saturday's Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs, is now in fourth place, exchanging positions with Korea Racing Authority's Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup winner Knicks Go (184 points).

Michael Lund Peterson's Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter Gamine (161 points), rises from seventh to sixth place after winning Saturday's Grade 1 Derby City Distaff presented by Kendall-Jackson Winery at Churchill Downs. St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska (141 points), who defeated Monomoy Girl in Oaklawn's Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 17, is now in seventh place.

Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfield re-enters the top 10, moving from 12th to eighth place with one first-place vote and 133 points after taking last Friday's Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes presented by Sentient Jet at Churchill Downs. The Cox-trained 4-year-old filly Shedaresthedevil (84 points), winner of Churchill's Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes presented by TwinSpires, jumps from 14th to ninth place. Competing the Top 10 is Klaravich Stable's 4-year-old Domestic Spending (55 points), who climbs to 10th from 56th place in last week's poll off the dead heat with Colonel Liam.

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.

The post Medina Spirit Rises To No. 1 On NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll; Malathaat Jumps To Fifth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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When he surged up the rail and hit the finish line first in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on October 10, Happy Saver inserted himself into the discussion of top tier contenders in the sophomore male division. Indeed, when the votes were tallied in the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top 3-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll, the son of Super Saver found himself among the elite.

Happy Saver bested a field that included such older foes as graded stakes winner Tacitus in the Jockey Club Gold Cup to give trainer Todd Pletcher his long-awaited first triumph in the storied race. That victory, which also marked the colt's first try against graded stakes company in four career starts, earned Happy Saver 174 points this week to move him into the fifth position. Following a debut victory on June 20 at Belmont Park, Happy Saver prevailed going two turns at Saratoga en route to a triumph in the Sept. 7 Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park, ahead of his Jockey Club Gold Cup outing.

“What he's been able to accomplish you don't see very many other horses do,” Pletcher told the NYRA publicity team of Happy Saver. “He went from a seven-furlong maiden on June 20 to a mile and an eighth allowance at Saratoga, to a mile and an eighth stake at Laurel and came back to Belmont and then to win a Grade 1 going a mile and a quarter against older horses is something you don't see very often.”

Whether Happy Saver heads to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7 is still to be determined. Should he end up in that starting gate, his list of challengers will likely include Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, who continues to hold the top spot in the 3-Year-Old Poll.

Authentic, who was beaten a neck by the filly Swiss Skydiver in the October 3 Preakness Stakes, earned 17 first-place votes and 342 points to hold onto the top spot for yet another week. Belmont and Travers Stakes winner Tiz the Law remains second with eight first-place votes and 328 points with Swiss Skydiver (12 first-place votes, 326 points) in third.

Grade 2 winner Art Collector (203 points) holds down the fourth position ahead of Happy Saver while Grade 1 winner Honor A. P., who has been retired to stud, drops one spot to sixth with 129 points.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Gamine (103 points) is seventh with Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil and Max Player now tied for eighth with 80 points apiece. Grade 2 winner Mystic Guide, who was second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, rounds out the top 10 with 57 points.

With sophomore runners taking the top two spots in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the handicap division had no major shifts this week. Multiple Grade 1 winner Improbable remains out front in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll with 32 first-place votes and 365 points as the son of City Zip has won three straight top-level contests.

Champion Maximum Security, runner-up to Improbable in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Sept. 26, is second with two first-place votes and 271 points. Tom's d'Etat (two first-place votes, 218 points) is third followed by Vekoma (one first-place vote, 202 points) and champion Monomoy Girl (191 points).

Multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards remains sixth with 147 points while Authentic (124 points) and Tiz the Law (117) rank seventh and eighth, respectively. Swiss Skydiver (104 points) and multiple Grade 1 winner Rushing Fall (71) complete the top ten.

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 both the Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

The post Jockey Club Gold Cup Winner Happy Saver Jumps To Fifth In NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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