Bricks and Mortar leads pre-BC NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

From a National Thoroughbred Racing Association release

With the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on tap for November 1-2 at Santa Anita Park, the lead group remains relatively unchanged in this week’s NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Bricks and Mortar will carry his top position into his expected run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf as the son of Giant’s Causeway earned 27 first-place votes and 378 points this week. A win in the Turf 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.

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. The daughter of Midnight Lute remains in the second spot with 11 first-place votes and 348 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 283 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 (263 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 favorite McKinzie (191 points) is fifth followed by Code of Honor, the top-ranked 3-year-old in the poll, in the sixth spot with 168 points.

Imperial Hint, a leading contender in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is seventh with 126 points followed by Omaha Beach (91 points). Grade 1 winner Vino Rosso (85 points) and Catalina Cruiser (71) complete the top ten.

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