ANOTHER WEEK OUT FRONT FOR BRICKS AND MORTAR IN NTRA TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL

Alicia Hughes/NTRA —-

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 24, 2019) – With the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes producing an upset winner in Hunter O’Riley this past Saturday, there was relatively no movement in this week’s edition of the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Bricks and Mortar (27 first-place votes, 354 points) retained his lead position atop the poll, a spot he has held since April 8. The Chad Brown-trained son of Giant’s Causeway has stamped himself as the leading turf male and Horse of the Year candidate heading into the second half of the season on the strength of victories in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Handicap, Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic, and Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes in 2019.

Fellow multiple Grade 1 winner Mitole (7 first-place votes, 327 points) holds in second place with stablemate Midnight Bisou (2 first-place votes, 240 points) in third.

The status quo continues with Grade 1 winner McKinzie remaining in fourth with 239 points while top sprinter World of Trouble (188 points) is fifth. Catholic Boy, who joins World of Trouble in being a Grade 1 winner on turf and dirt, is sixth with 129 points with Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes winner Seeking the Soul (106 points) seventh. E Five Racing’s multiple Grade 1 winner Rushing Fall (104 points) is eighth followed by two-time Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (IRE) (1 first-place vote, 87 points), who moved up one spot this week to ninth. Vino Rosso (66 points) rounds out the order in tenth

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

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 full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Poll can be found on the NTRA website at:

https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-june-24-2019/

Full accounting of top 10 votes by voter can be found at:

https://www.ntra.com/wp-content/uploads/Polls-week22-by_voter-2019.pdf