LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 16, 2021) ― Korea Racing Authority’s 5-year-old Knicks Go remained at No. 1 in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll for the second consecutive week, with the first seven places remaining largely unchanged.
Trained by Brad Cox, Knicks Go, who scored a commanding 4 ½-length victory in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 7, received 27 first-place votes and 338 points. The Whitney was the third win of the year for Knicks Go, who also captured the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap. St. George Stable’s 5-year-old mare Letruska, trained by Fausto Gutierrez, is in second place with six first-place votes and 303 points. Letruska has won four of five starts this year, including the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. Godolphin’s 3-year-old Essential Quality, who won the July 31 Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, remained in third place. Also trained by Cox, Essential Quality, who captured the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 5, and finished No. 1 in the final NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll, has one first-place vote and 253 points.
Godolphin’s 4-year-old Maxfield, winner of the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs and second in the Whitney, has moved up one spot to fourth place. Trained by Brendan Walsh, Maxfield has 225 points. Klaravich Stables’ 4-year-old gelding Domestic Spending, whose valiant effort to catch Two Emmys in the Grade 1 Mr. D. Stakes at Arlington Park on Saturday fell just a neck short at the wire, dropped from fourth to fifth place with 150 points. Trained by Chad Brown, Domestic Spending had previously finished in a dead heat for first in the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, and won the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park. Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing’s Silver State, who finished third in the Whitney after four consecutive wins, remained in sixth place with 139 points. Michael Lund Petersen’s 4-year-old Gamine, the 2020 champion female sprinter, retained seventh place with 90 points. Gamine, trained by Bob Baffert, is unbeaten in three starts this year, including a victory in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff presented by Kendall Jackson Winery at Churchill Downs.
Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss’s Hot Rod Charlie rose from ninth to eighth place with 60 points. Trained by Doug O’Neill, Hot Rod Charlie, third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, crossed the wire first in the Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes but was disqualified and placed seventh due to interference. New to the Top 10 is Flurry Racing Stables, Qatar Racing and Big Aut Farms’ 4-year-old filly Shedaresthedevil. Also trained by Cox, Shedaresthedevil improved from 11th to ninth place this week. Shedaresthedevil has won three of four starts this year, including the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Dell Mar on Aug. 1. Kirk and Judy Robison’s 3-year-old Jackie’s Warrior also joined the Top 10 this week. Trained by Asmussen, Jackie’s Warrior, who won the Grade 2, 6 ½-furlong Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga by 7 ¼ lengths on Aug. 1, jumped from 12th into a 10th-place tie with Godophin’s Mystic Guide, the Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner, who is out for the rest of the year with a knee injury. Jackie’s Warrior and Mystic Guide have 41 points apiece.
TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL
Week 27 of the 2021 NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll conducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), covering racing performances through August 15. Current Horse of the Year ranking of the Top Thoroughbred on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-1 basis with first place votes in parentheses, 2021 record and total points. Poll Concludes Monday, Nov. 6. A-S: Age-Sex, Sex: C-colt, G-gelding, H-horse, F-filly, M-mare, R-ridgling.
| HORSE | A-S | STATS | POINTS | PVS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KNICKS GO (27) | 5-H | 5-3-0-0 | 338 | 1 |
| 2 | LETRUSKA (6) | 5-M | 5-4-1-0 | 303 | 2 |
| 3 | ESSENTIAL QUALITY (1) | 3-C | 5-4-0-0 | 253 | 3 |
| 4 | MAXFIELD | 4-C | 5-3-1-1 | 225 | 5 |
| 5 | DOMESTIC SPENDING (1) | 4-G | 3-2-1-0 | 150 | 4 |
| 6 | SILVER STATE | 4-C | 5-4-0-1 | 139 | 6 |
| 7 | GAMINE | 4-F | 3-3-0-0 | 90 | 7 |
| 8 | HOT ROD CHARLIE | 3-C | 5-1-1-2 | 60 | 9 |
| 9 | SHEDARESTHEDEVIL | 4-F | 4-3-0-1 | 50 | 11 |
| 10T | JACKIE'S WARRIOR | 3-C | 4-2-1-1 | 41 | 12 |
| 10T | MYSTIC GUIDE | 4-C | 3-2-1-0 | 41 | 10 |
Other horses receiving votes: MAX PLAYER (31), UNITED (28), ALTHIQA (27), MANDALOUN (27), MONOMOY GIRL (27), GOT STORMY (23), SANTA BARBARA (16), MEDINA SPIRIT (9), MALATHAAT (6), SWISS SKYDIVER (6), EXPRESS TRAIN (6), HELLO HOT ROD (5), JACKIES WARRIOR (5), SMOOTH LIKE STRAIT (5), WAR LIKE GODDESS (3), COLONEL LIAM (3), IDOL (2), BELLA SOFIA (2), TWO EMMYS (1), SPEAKER’S CORNER (1), HAPPY SAVER (1), TRIBHUVAN (1)