Posted
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
The final NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll of the year is in before the most prestigious race of the year, the Kentucky Derby. The likely Derby favorite Omaha Beach remained in the top spot on my ballot in anticipation of the Run for the Roses.
When it comes time to submit my next Top 10 list on Sunday evening, the big question will be: Does the Derby winner deserve the No. 1 spot regardless of who wins the race? That probably depends on what happens in the Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs on Saturday.
Bricks and Mortar, who is the current consensus leader and second on my list, will make the Turf Classic his second start since winning the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) back in January. A second Grade 1 victory of the year would likely keep him in the top spot on most ballots. In this week’s poll, he received 13 of the 40 first-place votes but was only 8 total points ahead of Big 'Cap (G1) winner Gift Box.
However, if Omaha Beach prevails in the Derby, it would also give him his second Grade 1. At that point does a victory in The Kentucky Derby trump all others? Would more voters join me in identifying the Richard Mandella trainee as the top thoroughbred in the nation?
Also in action this weekend from my Top 10 are Bellafina (No. 7), who is the morning line favorite in the Kentucky Oaks; Alysheba favorite McKinzie (No. 8); and Tacitus (No. 9) in the Kentucky Derby.
No doubt with so many big races to be run at Churchill this weekend that there be will changes the next Top 10 and lots more to discuss than just the No. 1 spot.
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Consensus Top 10
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Matt Shifman's Top 10
|
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1. Bricks
and Mortar
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1. Omaha
Beach
|
|
2. Gift
Box
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2.
Bricks and Mortar
|
|
3. Midnight
Bisou
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3. City
of Light
|
|
4. Monomoy
Girl
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4. Midnight
Bisou
|
|
5. McKinzie
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5. Gift
Box
|
|
6. Roy
H
|
6. Coal
Front
|
|
7. City
of Light
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7. Bellafina
|
|
8. Thunder
Snow
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8. McKinzie
|
|
9. World
of Trouble
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9. Tacitus
|
|
10. X
Y Jet
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10. Vasilika |
