IMPERIAL HINT MOVES UP IN NTRA TOP 10 POLL; CLASSIC FAVORITE ACCELERATE REMAINS NO. 1

NTRA RELEASE —-

IMPERIAL HINT MOVES UP IN NTRA TOP 10 POLL; CLASSIC FAVORITE ACCELERATE REMAINS NO. 1 FOR NINTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Monday, October 15, 2018) – Hronis Racing’s Accelerate retained his hold atop the NTRA Top 10 Thoroughbred Poll for the ninth consecutive week as virtually all of the top U.S.-based horses in training continue to point for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Nov. 2-3 at Churchill Downs. Accelerate, who received nine first place votes and 346 points, recently was installed the 3-1 favorite in future wagering on the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Retired Triple Crown winner Justify was second in the Top 10 poll with 27 first place votes and 322 points. Two other horses—Imperial Hint and West Coast—also received first place votes. Twinspires.com Breeders’ Cup Sprint contender Imperial Hint (one first place vote, 157 points), moved from sixth to fifth place in this week’s poll while Classic contender and 2017 Eclipse Award-winning Champion 3-year-old West Coast (one first place vote, 119 points) was ranked eighth.

The versatile Mind Your Biscuits, who is under consideration to compete in three different Breeders’ Cup races, was third in this week’s poll with 211 points. He was followed by Distaff contender Monomoy Girl (fourth place, 207 points).

Travers Stakes hero Catholic Boy (146 points), also being pointed for the Classic, fell one spot to sixth place in this week’s poll. He was followed by Yoshida (seventh place, 142 points), West Coast, Catalina Cruiser (ninth place, 94 points) and Sistercharlie (tenth place, 74 points).

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll is the sport’s most comprehensive survey 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, which continues until November 5, after the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

The full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Poll can be found on the NTRA website at:
https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-october-15-2018/

Full accounting of top 10 votes by voter can be found at:
https://www.ntra.com/wp-content/uploads/Polls-week38-by_voter-2018.pdf

About the NTRA
The NTRA, based in Lexington, Ky., 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 owns and manages the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance; NTRA.com; the Eclipse Awards; the National Horseplayers Championship; NTRA Advantage, a corporate partner sales and sponsorship program; and Horse PAC®, a federal political action committee. NTRA press releases appear on NTRA.com, Twitter (@ntra) and Facebook (facebook.com/1NTRA).