MIDNIGHT BISOU CLOSES THE GAP IN NTRA TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL

Alicia Hughes/NTRA —-

LEXINGTON, Ky. (September 30, 2019) – After further stamping her superiority over divisional foes this past weekend, leading distaffer Midnight Bisou was able to make up ground on leader Bricks and Mortar in this week’s NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll.

While Bricks and Mortar remains out front with 27 first-place votes and 387 points, the son of Giant’s Causeway has Midnight Bisou on his heels in the wake of the latter’s sublime triumph in the Grade 2 Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on September 28. That Beldame triumph marked the seventh straight for Midnight Bisou during her 4-year-old campaign and also earned the daughter of Midnight Lute 12 first-place votes and 363 points from voters to sit solidly in the second position.

“She’s a remarkable filly who has provided all of us with a run of a lifetime,” Jeff Bloom, co-owner of Midnight Bisou, told NYRA’s publicity team. “Yesterday’s performance was just another validation of her talent.”

Midnight Bisou’s Grade 1-winning stablemate Mitole was the only other horse to earn a first-place vote this week, getting a single nod while garnering 280 points to move up to the third spot. Champion Sistercharlie (IRE) jumps up to fourth with 251 points ahead of her expected run in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont Park on October 6 while McKinzie, the beaten favorite in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes, drops to fifth with 202 points.

Code of Honor, the adjudicated winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, moves up to sixth with 174 points while Imperial Hint (145 points) sits seventh in the wake of his hard-fought victory the Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes.

Catalina Cruiser (94 points) drops to eighth while Elate (81) and Vino Rosso (75), who crossed the wire first in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, round out the top 10.

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-poll-september-30-2019/

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

https://www.ntra.com/wp-content/uploads/Polls-week36-by_voter-2019.pdf

Cover Photo: Midnight Bisou; Zoe Metz Photography