Back Half of NTRA Poll Sees Slight Shuffling
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Photo: Melissa Torres/EQUI-PHOTO
Geaux Rocket Ride wins the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park
As the top contenders in the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll set their sights on Breeders' Cup weekend, voters are hard at work fine-tuning their pecking order.
The top five in the rankings remained unchanged, but it was the bottom five that saw some movement since last week.
Geaux Rocket Ride moved up two spots from No. 9 and into the seventh position in the latest rankings released Sept.19.
The other positive mover is Arabian Knight . The Bob Baffert trainee jumped one spot to sixth, trading places with Gunite .
With two horses moving upward, another needed to lose ground, and Up to the Mark went in reverse one place to ninth.
Interestingly, all of the top 10 horses in the poll lost points with the exception of Geaux Rocket Ride, who added one.
Arcangelo (23 first-place votes), Cody's Wish (6), Elite Power (1), Echo Zulu (2), and White Abarrio (2) form the top five.
Arcangelo, Geaux Rocket Ride, Arabian Knight, and White Abarrio are all contenders to participate in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1); Up to the Mark in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T); Cody's Wish and Gunite in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1); No. 10 Casa Creed in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T); and Echo Zulu and Elite Power in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).
The latest poll covers racing performances through Sept. 4. Full rankings can be found online.