Status quo as West Coast leads NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll
Consistently training up to his run at the Dubai World Cup, West Coast has appeared a leader among older horses, with the 4-year-old Bob Baffert trainee again No. 1 in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll released Monday.
The son of Flatter, trained by Bob Baffert, most recently worked 5/8 of a mile Monday in 59.40 seconds, ranking fourth-fastest of 106 on track at Santa Anita Park.
In the World Cup, he’s expected to face at least two others in the current NTRA rankings, No. 5 Forever Unbridled and No. 7 Gunnevera, who made the only move this week by passing Abel Tasman for seventh.
Others in the Top 5 are World Approval, Unique Bella and Roy H, a top sprinter who’s also Dubai-bound.
West Coast received 29 of a possible 46 first-place votes, with 13 still attributed to Gun Runner, the recently retired Horse of the Year who won the 2018 Pegasus World Cup in his final start.
Others receiving votes: COLLECTED (37), ACCELERATE (33), SADLER’S JOY (24), HEART TO HEART (21), ECONOMIC MODEL (16), BOLT D’ORO (14), ITSINTHEPOST (12), X Y JET (10), GIANT EXPECTATIONS (10), IRISH WAR CRY (8), STELLAR WIND (8), SEEKING THE SOUL (7), MIND YOUR BISCUITS (7), ALWAYS DREAMING (6), DONA BRUJA (6), HOLY HELENA (6), ELATE (5), MOR SPIRIT (5), MCKINZIE (5), AUDIBLE (4), THE PLAYER (3), RUSHING FALL (3), BIGGER PICTURE (2), PARADISE WOODS (1), MONOMOY GIRL (1), GOOD MAGIC (1), AWESOME SLEW (1), OSCAR NOMINATED (1), AFLEET WILLY (1), TAKE CHARGE PAULA (1), GRAND JETE (1)