La. Derby winner By My Standards joins NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

From a National Thoroughbred Racing Association release

An upset in the Grade 2 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots allowed By My Standards to crash the top 10 while reigning juvenile male champion Game Winner strengthened his position atop the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top 3-Year-Old Poll this week.

By My Standards came into the Louisiana Derby off a maiden win and looked every bit the professional when he stepped up in company to win by three-quarters of a length in the 1 1/8-miles prep. Trained by Bret Calhoun, the son of Goldencents entered the 3-Year-Old Poll in the tenth position, earning 71 points from voters after previously being unranked.

With War of Will – who had been holding the No. 2 position on the poll – finishing ninth as the favorite in the Louisiana Derby, Game Winner was able to bolster his favoritism among voters. The Bob Baffert-trained colt garnered 24 first-place votes and 389 points to lead the poll with stablemate Improbable (7 first-place votes, 316 points) second.

Code of Honor (8 first-place votes, 309 points) sits third in advance of his expected run in the Grade 1 Xpressbet Florida Derby this Saturday while Omaha Beach (2 first-place votes, 308 points) is fourth.

Long Range Toddy (182 points) is fifth followed by Tacitus (137), Bourbon War (111), War of Will (93), Cutting Humor (80), and the aforementioned By My Standards. Cutting Humor is also a new entrant to the top 10 having won the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby this past Sunday.

Anothertwistafate (45 points) and A Thread of Blue (10 points) each received a single first-place vote.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll saw little movement as champion filly Monomoy Girl (13 first-place votes) holds the top spot for a second straight week with 326 points. Champion sprinter Roy H (1 first-place vote, 314 points) held at second with Bricks and Mortar (2 first-place votes, 292 points) moving up one spot to third following his narrow win at Fair Grounds on Saturday.

City of Light, who retired following his victory in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on January 26, now sits fourth with 271 points but still has 26 first-place votes. Grade 1 winner McKinzie (1 first-place vote, 218 points) is fifth followed by Midnight Bisou (185 points), Seeking the Soul (148), champion turf female Sistercharlie (115), Accelerate (95) and Marley’s Freedom (68).

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.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll concludes November 4 after the running of the Breeders’ Cup.

The Top 3-Year-Old Poll concludes June 8 after the Belmont Stakes.

NTRA TOP THREE-YEAR-OLD POLL

1. Game Winner
2. Improbable
3. Code of Honor
4. Omaha Beach
5. Long Range Toddy
6. Tacitus
7. Bourbon War
8. War of Will
9. Cutting Humor
10. By My Standards