California Chrome clear choice in NTRA poll

California Chrome. Photo by Laurie Asseo.

From a National Thoroughbred Racing Association release

There was very little movement in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll this week. All-time leading money earner in the U.S., California Chrome, remains in first-place for the seventeenth straight week with (28 first-place votes, 360 points) in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll. With earnings of $12,532,650, California Chrome surpassed 2008 Dubai World Cup winner Curlin, who retired to stud with earnings of $10,501,800.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll is the sport’s most comprehensive survey of experts ranking all-ages of Thoroughbreds. Every week 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. The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll concludes Monday, November 7, following the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

North American champion turf female Tepin (9 first-place vote; 317) remains second in the rankings for owner Robert Masterson and trainer Mark Casse after crushing her opponents on June 14 in the Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1) at Ascot.

Three-time Eclipse Award Champion, Beholder (259) remains fourth in the rankings after her 1 ½ victory in the Vanity Mile (GI) at Santa Anita Park with her regular rider Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, her trainer, Hall of Famer, Richard Mandella and owner, B. Wayne Hughes. Beholder could show up next in the GI Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 30.

Songbird (161) the undefeated sensational three-year-old filly is moved up a notch and now is currently ranked sixth in the top-ten having captured Saturday’s G2 Summertime Oaks easily by 6 ½ lengths under regular rider Mike Smith going a mile and a sixteenth in 1:42.63 at Santa Park for Fox Hill Farms owner Rick Porter and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. It is expected Songbird’s next race will take place east of California against her own sex.

Rounding out the field are: Frosted (247); Nyquist (187); Melatonin (151); Flintshire (151); Exaggerator (58); and Cavorting (29).

The NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll concluded today, Monday, June 13, following the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown.

The full results for both NTRA weekly Thoroughbred polls can be found on the NTRA website.