Sovereignty Still on Top in Largely Unchanged NTRA Poll

With most leading Horse of the Year contenders having already completed their final preps ahead of the Breeders' Cup, the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top Thoroughbred Poll showed little movement despite a flurry of graded stakes action last week. Conducted among national media members, the poll tracks the leading candidates for Horse of the Year, the top honor in Thoroughbred racing. This year's poll concludes in the days following the Oct. 30-31 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland. The top seven horses—Sovereignty, Forever Young (JPN), Knightsbridge, Nitrogen, Magnitude, Englishman, and Golden Tempo—all retained their positions from the previous week. The only change in the top 10 came when Deterministic moved up one spot to eighth and Notable Speech (GB) dropped to ninth. Splendora held 10th. Godolphin's Notable Speech, trained in Britain by Charlie Appleby, traveled to Woodbine in September and defeated Deterministic, a dual grade 1 winner in 2026, in the Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T), a steppingstone for the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T). Notable Speech won both races last year en route to earning North America's champion turf male honors. Just outside the top 10 in 11th is Klaravich Stables' Fully Subscribed, who was 15th the week before her decisive victory in the Oct. 4 Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. She is expected to face Nitrogen in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). The full poll and votes by voter can be found online.