Top Horses List: Week 1

Welcome to the first official Top Horses List for the 2014 Road to the Breeders' Cup. This list will only be for the Classic and the Distaff until August when I will be adding the F/M Turf and Turf. The other races will not be ranked until September as I feel those are the ones that take the longest to sort themselves out. Until the Haskell at the end of July these lists will be Top 6, after that race they will go to Top 9 and just after the Travers it will be Top 12. Please note these will only be for the Classic and Distaff. The other divisions (except the Juvenile) will start at 5 and then go to 8 while the Juvy divisions will remain at 5. So for now, here are the rankings!

Classic

Rank	Horse's Name (Sire)	Trainer	Information
1	Palace Malice (Curlin)	Pletcher	This is a no brainer. 4 for 4 this year including a win in the stallion making race Met Mile. He might be the best Older Dirt Male to run in the US since his sire in 2008. The Whitney could be next for him at the track where he won the Jim Dandy last year.
2	Tonalist (Tapit)	Clement	The Belmont winner has the chance to move up big time with California Chrome being out for the summer races. Travers prep will be the Jim Dandy which is held the day before the Haskell. Belmont winners don't always have the greatest post 1 ½ mile race records though, which may hurt him a bit.
3	California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)	Sherman	Sure a loss in the Belmont, plus an injury puts him lower than the spoiler. Even with that though he is the best of the west regardless of age... at least until the Gold Cup. Hopefully he can come back from his injury just as good as he was before it.
4	Moonshine Mullin (Albert the Great)	Morse	This horse has amazing heart. Included in his current 6 win race streak are two graded stakes wins the Alysheba and Stephen Foster. While it may seem that he has come out of nowhere, he actually has some back class on him (facing Stay Thirsty, Shackleford and Ruler On Ice as a 3yo). He looks to have finally put together at 6. Racing at Saratoga next, but will not face Palace Malice.
5	Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song)	Lukas	It was hard not to put Game On Dude on this list. Even though the defending 3yo Champ may not be the same horse like The Dude, he rebounded from a poor Alysheba to finish second in the Foster. He's raced quite a bit already in 2014 and deserves a bit of a rest to get ready for the Woodward (or Whitney if he really wants to run earlier).
6	Imperative (Bernardini)	Papaprodromou	Three times he has faced the 2010 BCC runner up and twice he has finished ahead of Game On Dude. The problem is that he has yet to win at Santa Anita. Maybe that changes in the Gold Cup?

Others Considered: Game On Dude (Awesome Again), Wicked Strong (Hard Spun), Medal Count (Dynaformer), Clubhouse Ride (Candy Ride), Departing (War Front)

Distaff

Rank	Horse's Name (Sire)	Trainer	Information
1	Close Hatches (First Defense)	Mott	Defeated not only the defending champ Beholder, but Princess of Sylmar as well. Although there is a G1 at Delaware in July, she is likely not a 1 ¼ horse. So my guess is a race at Saratoga (Shuvee/Personal Ensign or both?) before the Beldame. The biggest question though, is it her time to shine?
2	Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior)	Pletcher	I'm not a hundred percent sure she will be going to the Breeders' Cup this year because of what happened last year, however I hope they do go. Her being 100% in order for that to happen though. DelCap or Shuvee next.
3	Untapable (Tapit)	Asmussen	Controversy about her trainer aside, she by far is the top 3yo of either sex in the country. There is a chance later this year she might take on the boys. The Mother Goose next weekend is her next scheduled start.
4	Beholder (Henny Hughes)	Mandella	So she doesn't travel with her track. That being said she's only had 2 races out of California. Turns out like California Chrome she suffered an injury and will miss Del Mar. However unlike with the males where there are many stakes, Older Females in California don't have that luxary as much. This might turn out to be her advantange.
5	Iotapa (Afleet Alex)	Sadler	After a dismisal Humana Distaff, she rebounded in a big way with a monster win the Vanity. Even though Beholder will be out until the Fall, she needs to prove that this past weekend's race was no fluke thus she is lower than the defending champ... for now. Either way she has come a long way from running in a $50,000 claimer.
6	Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper)	Romans	Turned the tables on On Fire Baby in Saturday's Fleur de Lis after finishing second to her in the La Troienne. Her graded stakes record is okay, but not great. That being said, she won by open lengths in the Fleur. She will have to step it up though if she has any chance with the top 4.

Others Considered: Flashy American (Flashy Bull), Grace Hall (Empire Maker), Fiftyshadesofhay (Pulpit), Scherzinger (Tiz Wonderful)

The next rankings will be during the week of June 29^th which is the day after the Gold Cup at Santa Anita which is the next WAYI race in the US.