All quiet in NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

From a National Thoroughbred Racing Association release

Less than two weeks out from the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park on November 1-2, the lead group continues to hold their respective positions in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Bricks and Mortar is set to carry his top stature into his expected Breeders’ Cup run. The son of Giant’s Causeway earned 25 first-place votes and 374 points this week as he prepares for a start in either the Breeders’ Cup Mile or Breeders’ Cup Turf. A win in either test would add to a season that has seen the Chad Brown-trained runner go unbeaten in five starts – including four Grade 1 wins – while cementing himself as a leading Horse of the Year candidate.

“I’m going to pre-enter in both races but right now I’m leaning toward the Turf,” Brown told the NYRA publicity team.

Fellow Horse of the Year contender Midnight Bisou brings a seven-race win streak into the Breeders’ Cup as she is expected to be the heavy favorite for the Distaff on November 2. The daughter of Midnight Lute remains in the second spot with 12 first-place votes and 352 points.

Peter Brant’s Sistercharlie (IRE), the reigning champion turf female and defending winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, holds in third with 1 first-place vote and 279 points in the wake of her triumph in the Flower Bowl Stakes on October 6 – her sixth consecutive Grade 1 score.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Mitole (1 first-place vote, 264 points) is fourth in the rankings on the strength of a campaign that has seen the son of Eskendereya win five of six starts this season. Expected Breeders’ Cup Classic contender McKinzie (187 points) is fifth followed by Code of Honor, the top-ranked 3-year-old in the poll, in the sixth spot with 173 points.

Imperial Hint, who is expected to vie for favoritism in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is seventh with 143 points followed by Omaha Beach (1 first-place vote, 100 points), whose connections confirmed him for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Catalina Cruiser (89 points) and Grade 1 winner Vino Rosso (87) complete the top ten.

The Top Thoroughbred Poll wraps up November 4 after the running of the Breeders’ Cup.

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.