My Final 2017 NTRA Top 10 Thoroughbred Poll

Throughout the year, NTRA Top 10 Thoroughbred Poll voters are instructed to treat the rankings as if they are choosing the Horse of the Year, so the list is in effect the horses who in some way could have a chance to ultimately earn the top Eclipse Award.

With the final edition out Monday following the Breeders’ Cup, here's how I've voted.

Obviously, some of the choices in the final vote became much easier after the weekend at Del Mar. In my mind, when trying to rank horses, later races in the year carry more weight. Also, it is important to make sure that achievements from previously years do not influence your votes.

1) Gun Runner – Heading into the Breeders' Cup Classic, there were several horses that had a legitimate chance to be named Horse of the Year, and the Classic was going to be the race that determined how the choice would be made. Gun Runner answered all the questions when he won the Classic in gate-to-wire fashion by a widening 2 1/4-length margin while earning a big 117 Beyer Speed Figure. When the Eclipse ballots are cast, the son of Candy Ride, who won just under $7 million dollars this year alone with four consecutive Grade 1 victories, should be a unanimous choice as Horse of the Year.

2) World Approval – Trainer Mark Casse and his team unlocked all of the talent that the big gray gelding had hidden away when he won five of six races in 2017, including three big Grade 1s to end this year. The Fourstardave and the Woodbine Mile were great victories that led to an ultra-impressive win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile against a field of 14 that included some very talented European runners. Had the Classic been won by a longshot, World Approval would have been in the discussion for Horse of the Year.

3) Forever Unbridled – With a perfect three-race record in 2017 that included a powerful victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the Dallas Stewart-trainee made it clear that she is the best filly or mare on the dirt in the country. There is little to criticize in those three races, but I sure would have liked to have seen this talented mare on the track more than three times. I do understand that she has been lightly raced throughout her career and as a daughter of Unbridled’s Song she has been prone to minor injuries. There is a good chance that she will run next year, maybe even in the Pegasus World Cup against the boys.

4) Collected – Only Gun Runner kept Collected from a likely Horse of the Year title. This Bob Baffert runner battled Gun Runner around the Del Mar track and only yielded because he was stretched to the edge of his distance ability. Prior to the Classic he had four consecutive wins, including his victory over Arrogate in the grade one Pacific Classic. That campaign earned him a high spot in my final rankings.

5) Arrogate – I’m sure that my ranking of Arrogate in the five spot will ruffle some people’s feathers, but I had no choice if I followed the criteria that were already mentioned. This is 2017, and not 2016, and his final performance was not worthy of a higher ranking. Yes, the Pegasus and Dubai World Cup victories were excellent, but his final three races fell far short of the four horses ranked above him. In other sports polls, also, late season performance counts the most. Arrogate was not the same horse after the trip to Dubai. It was especially disappointing to see that he was not a factor in the Classic.

6) West Coast – With his solid third-place finish in the Classic, West Coast solidified his spot as the top horse in the 3-year-old male division. His nine-race campaign in 2017 included the Grade 1 Travers and Pennsylvania Derby as part of six victories. He did not have a bad race all year long.

7) Beach Patrol – Trainer Chad Brown found a way to get the best out of Beach Patrol at the end of the year. The son of Lemon Drop Kid impressed with two Grade 1 wins in the Arlington Million and then the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Only a half-length kept him from winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf, but that second-place finish ahead of great European runner Highland Reel could earn him an Eclipse as the Top Turf Male.

8) Roy H – I love the sprinters, and while other voters may leave them out of their polls, Roy H has earned not only an Eclipse Award but a spot in the Top 10. The 5-year-old was only a length and a half from a perfect six-race campaign. He ended the year with a Grade 1 win at Santa Anita and then a victory against a very talented field in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

9) Good Magic – I like to use the last couple of spots in the final poll as a place to highlight any noteworthy 2-year-olds. Still a maiden, Good Magic topped the 12-horse Breeders’ Cup Juvenile field, which included the unbeaten Bolt d’Oro, by a widening 4 1/4-length margin. The Juvenile win earned a BSF of 100, which is an impressive number for a lightly raced 2-year-old. Good Magic was not a typical maiden because he also had a second place in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park. This son of Curlin could be a factor on the Kentucky Derby Trail.

10) Bolt d’Oro – This son of Medaglia d’Oro overcame a bad start and an ultra-wide trip and still managed to get up for third in the Juvenile. His performance in the Breeders’ Cup coupled his 100 BSF in the Grade 1 Frontrunner make the big bay colt a horse to watch in next year’s Kentucky Derby prep races.