Contact: Joan Lawrence, (646) 335-6833, jlawrence@ntra.com

ARROGATE REMAINS FIRST, TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL

(Receives all 36 -first-place votes)

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Monday, June 19, 2017) – The top ranked horses of all ages remains relatively quiet in week 21 of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll,  which results were released today.

Arrogate (36 first-place votes; 360 points) remains the unanimous top choice. The leading earner in North American racing history is trained by Bob Baffert for owner Juddmonte Farm.  The Dubai World Cup winner and Eclipse Award winner is in training with the possibility of making his first start in the TVG San Diego Handicap. (G2) on July 22 at Del Mar or the G1 $1million TVG Pacific Classic on August 19 at Del Mar Race Course.

Gun Runner (315) is the only horse who ran this past weekend in the top-ten. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm, Gun Runner won easily by a seven-length margin in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs. The Stephen Foster is a Breeders’ Cup “Win & You’re In Classic Division” series, which awards winners of its races an automatic berth in Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 4 at Del Mar, California.  Trained by Steve Asumussen, the Hall of Famer is considering the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 5 for the son of Candy Ride’s next possible start.

Two-time Eclipse Award winner Songbird (261 ) remains in third  after her first start of the year in the G1 Ogden Phipps “Win and You’re In Breeders’ Cup Distaff Division,” last  Saturday at Belmont Park.

The top-ten in descending order are: Arrogate ( 36 first place votes;  360 points); Gun Runner (315);  Songbird ( 261); Shaman Ghost (248); Mor Spirit (174); Stellar Wind (155); Lady Eli (95 ); Neolithic (62); Mind Your Biscuits (52 ); and Connect (40).

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll concludes November 6 after the running of the Breeders’ Cup.

 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, Based in Lexington, Ky., owns and manages the NTRA Safety & 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. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com, Twitter (@ntra) and Facebook (facebook.com/1NTRA).

 

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