Woodward winner Gun Runner Retains First Position in NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

By Joan Lawrence NTRA —-

Woodward Winner Gun Runner Retains First Place in NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

(receives 35 out of 40 first-place votes)

Gun Runner; Chelsea Durand Photo

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Tuesday, September 5, 2017) – With the premiere Saratoga and Del Mar summer meets now in the books for 2017 the Fall Championships series begins in earnest later this month there is little to no changes in Week 32 of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll for horses of all ages, results of which were released today.

Remaining in first after his smashing victory this past Saturday in the Grade I Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, Gun Runner (35 first-place votes, 395 points) firmly grabs the lead in the top-ten .Trained by Steve Asmussen for owners Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm the Candy Ride colt is expected to train up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.

Arrogate (4 first-place votes, 345 points), who had dominated the poll the first 29 weeks this year for trainer Bob Baffert and Juddmonte Farms, remains in second after his runner-up finish behind stablemate Collected ranked fourth with (232) in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, a “Win and You’re In” contest for a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic two weeks ago. Arrogate, the leading earner in North American racing history, remains on target for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Lady Eli (241) moves up a notch from fourth to third after her win in the Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa (G2) for Sheep Pond Partners this past month followed by Stellar Wind (216) in fifth for trainer John Sadler.

The complete top-ten In descending order are: Gun Runner (35 first place votes, 395 points );Arrogate (4 first-place votes,345 points); Lady Eli (241); Collected (232); Stellar Wind (216); Mor Spirit (121); West Coast (1 first-place vote; 110 points); Drefong (106); Forever Unbridled (79) andSongbird (72).

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll concludes November 6 after the running of the Breeders’ Cup.

The full results for the NTRA weekly Thoroughbred poll can be found on the NTRA website at:

https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-august-14-2017/

Preview of vote by voters can be viewed at:

https://www.ntra.com/wp-content/uploads/Polls-week29-by_voter-2017.pdf

About the NTRA
The NTRA is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 horse racing interests and thousands of individual stakeholders consisting of horseplayers, racetrack operators, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity, welfare and integrity of Thoroughbred racing through consensus-based leadership, legislative advocacy, safety and integrity initiatives, fan engagement and corporate partner development. The NTRA, Based in Lexington, Ky., owns and manages the NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the NTRA Top Thoroughbred and NTRA Top 3-Year-Old weekly media polls; the Eclipse Awards; the National Handicapping Championship; NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program; and Horse PAC, a federal political action committee. NTRA press releases appear onNTRA.com, Twitter http://e.ntra.com/t/l?ssid=22493&subscriber_id=aegrfrlvuqlspaezjqpofhmsskitbhg&delivery_id=bvjxymtonciqekrtdrezcnritvsabap&td=K-m5bPUA7apkQ7UIk0xrfQ7n-(@ntra) and Facebook(facebook.com/1NTRA).