New York, N.Y. (Monday, June 29, 2015) – Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes winner 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 remains the unanimous leader of his division and now 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 all 41 first-place votes for 410 points.
The following eight finishers remain the same from last week’s results with Eclipse Award champion Shared Belief in second with (313 points) followed by Honor Code (302), 2014 Horse of the Year champ California Chrome (259), Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence (167), Tonalist (153), Noble Bird (106), Eclipse champion Beholder (89) and Lea (78).
Moving in the tenth slot and new to the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll is the recent winner from this past Saturday’s Grade I Santa Anita Gold Cup, the five-year-old horse Hard Aces with (42) points after a thriller of a finish by just beating Hoppertunity by a nose at the wire.
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).