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 Three-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 Three-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.
Full accounting of top 10 votes by voter can be found at:
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TOP THREE-YEAR OLD POLL
Week 12 of the 2021 NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll conducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), covering racing performances through May 2. Current rankings of the Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis with first place votes in parentheses, 2021 record and total points. The three-year-old poll represents horses competing up and through the Triple Crown Championships. Poll concludes June 5 (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes). A-S: Age-Sex, Sex: C-colt, G-gelding, H-horse, F-filly, M-mare, R-ridgling.
| HORSE | A-S | STATS | POINTS | PVS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MEDINA SPIRIT (34) | 3-C | 5-2-3-0 | 374 | 7 |
| 2 | ESSENTIAL QUALITY (2) | 3-C | 3-2-0-0 | 315 | 1 |
| 3 | MANDALOUN | 3-C | 4-1-1-1 | 284 | 12 |
| 4 | HOT ROD CHARLIE | 3-C | 3-1-0-2 | 266 | 3 |
| 5 | MALATHAAT (1) | 3-F | 2-2-0-0 | 179 | 20 |
| 6 | CONCERT TOUR | 3-C | 4-3-0-1 | 95 | 8 |
| 7 | LIFE IS GOOD (1) | 3-C | 2-2-0-0 | 94 | 9 |
| 8 | JACKIE'S WARRIOR | 3-C | 2-1-0-1 | 82 | 31 |
| 9 | ROCK YOUR WORLD | 3-C | 4-3-0-0 | 69 | 2 |
| 10 | MIDNIGHT BOURBON | 3-C | 4-1-1-1 | 65 | 10 |
Other horses receiving votes: O BESOS (56), KNOWN AGENDA (50), DREAM SHAKE (23), HELLO HOT ROD (20), HIGHLY MOTIVATED (20), GREATEST HONOUR (20), SEARCH RESULTS (17), KING FURY (10), CADDO RIVER (10), FLIGHTLINE (9), KEEPMEINMIND (8), SUPER STOCK (6), DU JOUR (4),
CROWDED TRADE (3), HELIUM (3), DRAIN THE CLOCK (2), TRIPLE TAP (2), TRAVEL COLUMN (2), FIRST CAPTAIN (1), REBEL’S ROMANCE (1)
TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL
Week 12 of the 2021 NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll conducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), covering racing performances through May 2. 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 | MYSTIC GUIDE (31) | 4-C | 2-2-0-0 | 350 | 1 |
| 2 | CHARLATAN (6) | 4-C | 1-0-1-0 | 322 | 2 |
| 3 | MONOMOY GIRL | 6-M | 2-1-1-0 | 229 | 3 |
| 4 | COLONEL LIAM | 4-C | 3-3-0-0 | 199 | 5 |
| 5 | KNICKS GO | 5-H | 2-1-0-0 | 184 | 4 |
| 6 | GAMINE | 4-F | 2-2-0-0 | 161 | 7 |
| 7 | LETRUSKA | 5-M | 3-2-1-0 | 141 | 6 |
| 8 | MAXFIELD (1) | 4-C | 3-2-0-1 | 133 | 12 |
| 9 | SHEDARESTHEDEVIL | 4-F | 2-2-0-0 | 84 | 14 |
| 10 | DOMESTIC SPENDING | 4-G | 1-1-0-0 | 55 | 56 |
Other horses receiving votes: SWISS SKYDIVER (46), IDOL (46), MEDINA SPIRIT (34), C Z ROCKET (27), SILVER STATE (20), MISCHEVIOUS ALEX (11), MALATHAAT (8), FLAGSTAFF (7), RAGING BULL (7), UNITED (6), ESSENTIAL QUALITY (6), BY MY STANDARDS (4), EXTRAVAGANT KID (2), SAY THE WORD (2), CHURN N BURN (2), DR POST (1), HIT THE ROAD (1), WHITMORE (1), CHANNEL MAKER (1)