LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — With the final major prep races complete, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s weekly Top 3-Year-Old poll is beginning to look a lot like an early Kentucky Derby forecast.
Arkansas Derby winner Renegade remains on top of the NTRA’s latest poll, released Monday, but the race for No. 1 is tightening as the calendar turns toward the first Saturday in May.
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The Todd Pletcher-trained colt, who also won the Sam F. Davis Stakes earlier this year, received 14 first-place votes and 284 points in balloting of the national horse racing media. That’s just ahead off Commandment, the Florida Derby winner, who picked up nine first-place votes and 276 points.
The gap is hardly comfortable.
Further Ado, who delivered an emphatic 11-length victory in the Blue Grass Stakes, vaulted from No. 13 to No. 3 in the poll with eight first-place votes and 258 points, giving voters three clear favorites at the top entering the final month before the Kentucky Derby.
The Top 3-Year-Old poll conducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association in a vote of national media.
Renegade, a son of Into Mischief, is unbeaten in two starts this year and races for co-owners Robert and Lawana Lowand Repole Stable. Commandment, also a son of Into Mischief, is trained by Brad Cox for Wathnan Racing and has put together one of the strongest résumés of any Derby hopeful, with wins this year in the Florida Derby, Fountain of Youth and Mucho Macho Man Stakes.
Further Ado, also trained by Cox, made the biggest move near the top after his dominant Blue Grass win. The Spendthrift Farm-owned colt had opened his season with a loss to The Puma in the Tampa Bay Derby, but his performance at Keeneland pushed him firmly into the Derby conversation.
The Puma checked in at No. 4, while So Happy jumped from No. 22 to No. 5 after winning the Santa Anita Derby for trainer Mark Glatt.
Rounding out the top 10 were Emerging Market at No. 6, Silent Tactic at No. 7, Chief Wallabee at No. 8, Potente at No. 9 and Fulleffort at No. 10.
The complete top 10 is below. All of the colts appear headed for the same next stop: the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
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