Shifman: City of Light still deserves top spot in NTRA poll

Last week, there was a bit of chatter about City of Light leading the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll when he is already retired. All but six voters agreed that was the way to handle the No. 1 position, and this week that number dropped to four.

The reality is, City of Light is not going to leave the top spot in my poll until another horse comes along and wins one or more Grade 1 stakes.

That may be a 3-year-old who wins one of the final 100-point Kentucky Derby qualifiers and then rolls into Louisville and takes the Run for the Roses, or it may be a run in the big races at Santa Anita in the Spring.

The Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap will be run on March 9 followed by The Gold Cup on May 27. Last year Accelerate began his climb up the rankings with his victory in the Big ‘Cap and moved into second, behind Justity, after he won the Gold Cup. In 2013 and 2014, Game On Dude sat in the number one spot after his memorable wins in the Santa Anita ‘Cap.

The Keeneland Spring meeting is loaded as well, and Grade 1 prospects could vie for the top spot leaving there, too.

On another note, last year’s Whitney Stakes winner Diversify has joined Catholic Boy in the barn of trainer Jonathan Thomas. Both are back in training and are likely to appear in the Top 10 later in the year. However for me, they will have to win before they get a vote.

This week the consensus Top 10 remained the same as last, and there was little change in my ballot, too.

I did make an adjustment by dropping Accelerate in favor of adding McKinzie at No. 6. He did, after all, just narrowly lose to Battle of Midway, and there’s no doubt that the Bob Baffert trainee will be a presence in big races whether he turns out to be a one-turn specialist or that he can contend in the older male division at a distance of ground.