New York, N.Y. (Monday, August 31, 2015) – American Pharoah who became America’s 12th Triple Crown winner after breaking a thirty-seven year draught since 1978 on June 6 at Belmont Park suffered his first defeat this year in the Grade I Travers Stakes remains the leader of his division and for all horses of all ages in the latest NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll, results of which were released today. The Pioneerof the Nile colt received (42) first-place votes for (428) points.
In a dramatic finish in this year’s 146th running of the mid-summer Derby at Saratoga this past Saturday, American Pharoah relinquished the lead in the last few strides to Keen Ice for the win. The late-running Keen Ice, who entered the Travers with only a maiden win moves into the top ten from 23rd to sixth place with (129) points.
Receiving one-first place vote and in third is the Grade I Whitney Stakes winner Honor Code with (358) points.
Moving up from seventh to fourth in the rankings is the 6-year-old bay gelding Private Zone (243) who led from start to finish for the 3 ¾ length victory in the 36th running of the Grade I Forego on the Travers Day undercard.
Making his first appearance on the NTRA Poll and ranked ninth with (91) points is British-bred Flintshire, the recent winner of the Grade I Sword Dancer for trainer Andre Fabre. The Sword Dancer was part of the Travers undercard.
Rounding out the field is the two-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder (372), Two-Year-old Eclipse Award winner Shared Belief in fifth (165), Lady Eli (119), Liam’s Map (112) and in tenth Tonalist (76).
Eligible media cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The Top Thoroughbred Poll is conducted weekly through the Monday, November 2 following the Breeders’ Cup World Championships which will be held at Keeneland Race Course, Lexington, Ky., October 29 and 30.
The NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll concluded after the Belmont Stakes.
The full results for NTRA weekly Thoroughbred poll can be found on the NTRA website at /business_development/files/NTRA%20Thoroughbred%20Poll%20Summary.pdf.
About the NTRA
The NTRA is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 horse racing interests and thousands of individual stakeholders consisting of horseplayers, racetrack operators, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity, welfare and integrity of Thoroughbred racing through consensus-based leadership, legislative advocacy, safety and integrity initiatives, fan engagement and corporate partner development. The NTRA owns and manages the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the NTRA Top Thoroughbred and NTRA Top 3-Year-Old weekly media polls; the Eclipse Awards; the National Handicapping Championship; NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program; and HORSE PAC, a federal political action committee. The NTRA has offices in Lexington, Ky., and New York City. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com, Twitter (@ntra) and Facebook (facebook.com/1NTRA).