Travers Winner Leading Change Joins NTRA Top 10
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Walter Wlodarczyk
Leading Change leaves the paddock before winning the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
There was no change to the leaders of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Top Thoroughbred Poll released Sept. 9, but some shuffling did occur at the bottom of the top 10.
Reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty continues to lead the way in the weekly poll voted on by members of the national media. The Godolphin homebred winner of the Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 8 received 23 of 31 first-place votes for a point total of 296, giving him a comfortable 45-point lead over stablemate Knightsbridge🔥 .
Nitrogen and Magnitude remained third and fourth, respectively, while Forever Young swapped from sixth to fifth with Deterministic🔥 . Englishman stayed in the seventh spot.
The bottom four placings is where the most change occurred. Ranked eighth last week, Whitham Thoroughbreds' Burnham Square🔥 dropped into a tie for 10th with Splendora after a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes (G2T) at Kentucky Downs—a performance trainer Ian Wilkes and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. attributed to the heat.
Also, the announcement that reigning champion male sprinter Book'em Danno will miss the Breeders' Cup saw him drop off the leaderboard and into 12th place. Those two demotions allowed Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Golden Tempo🔥 to rise from ninth to eighth with Travers Stakes (G1) winner Leading Change taking the ninth spot after ranking 12th last week.