Amazing how 4 races can change
everything. Here are this weeks Top Horses Lists.
Distaff
| Rank | Horse (Sire) | Trainer | Profile |
| 1 | Close Hatches (First Defense) | Mott | The horse to beat as she will try to give her trainer his third Distaff win in 4 years. Keeneland next for her, the race? The Spinster. |
| 2 | Beholder (Henny Hughes) | Mandella | The Queen of Santa Anita reigned once again with a win in the Zenyatta. Would not be suprising if she gets the win again. |
| 3 | Belle Gallantey (After Market) | Rodriguez | I thought I had placed her on the list after her Del Cap win, but I hadn't. Still a smashing win in the Beldame. Not sure she'll get away with a loose lead though. |
| 4 | Untapable (Tapit) | Asmussen | The three year olds are bad. However, with Stopchargingmaria's loss in the Beldame, she is the likely 3yo champ. |
| 5 | Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) | Pletcher | Belmont is a speed bias track... hopefully Santa Anita is not one too. |
| 6 | Don't Tell Sophia (Congaree) | Sims | Needs to run the race of her life at Santa Anita... should she go. |
| 7 | Tiz Midnight (Midnight Lute) | Baffert | Running second to Beholder is not bad. A filly with a future. |
| 8 | Iotapa (Afleet Alex) | Sadler | Did a great job to holding down the fort while Beholder was out. Drops due to a 3rd in the Zenyatta. |
| 9 | Stanwyck (Empire Maker) | Shirreffs | Really wished that she had done better in the Beldame. Hoping the return home will be helpful. |
| 10 | Endless Chatter (First Samurai) | Brown | 3rd in her graded stakes debut is not bad. Trainer tends to be more conservative, but he did pre-enter a horse into last year's Dirt Mile who while didn't make it into the race, did finish 3rd in the Clark. |
| 11 | Broken Sword (Broken Vow) | Hollendorfer | Spinster bound? Hopefully... maybe? |
| 12 | Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper) | Romans | Really interested how she does against Close Hatches. Could be a suprise result. |
Removed: Sweet Reason (Street Sense)- She's F/M Sprint bound.
Antipathy (A.P. Indy)- No works since her PE disaster.
Fiftyshadesofhay (Pulpit)- Could only finish 5th in the
Beldame.
Others considered: Fiftyshadesofhay, Jojo Warrior (Pioneerof the
Nile), Parranda (English Channel), Stopshoppingdebbie (Curlin)
Classic
| Rank | Horse (Sire) | Trainer | Profile |
| 1 | Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG)) | Hollendorfer | That Awesome Again was a dog fight. Floated wide, had to deal with a pacesetter at the end and still won. This horse is amazing and will be very difficult to beat on the 1st of November. |
| 2 | Tonalist (Tapit) | Clement | Look whose back in the top 5? He really needs to prove though that he can travel with his track. |
| 3 | Bayern (Offlee Wild) | Baffert | Looks like his stablemate Fed Biz could give him a bit of a fit on the front end. However wouldn't be now with Game On Dude retired, his trainer has options. As long as he's not pressured then he'll air. However, I expect him to be pressured in someway. |
| 4 | Zivo (True Direction) | Brown | The first non 3yo on the list. Like Tonalist he needs to prove that he can travel with his track. |
| 5 | Fed Biz (Giant's Causeway) | Baffert | Not 100% sure he really wants a mile and a quarter... but he's by a Classic runner up and out of a mare's whose sire won the Classic. 2nd in the Awesome Again, but gave Shared Belief all he could handle. |
| 6 | Toast of New York (Thewayyouare) | Osbourne | Honestly he should be higher... but the dirt right now is a question mark. |
| 7 | Long River (A.P Indy) | McLaughlin | Hi there Round Pond's son! The 2006 Distaff winner's boy finished third in the JCGC ahead of the Travers winner. So proud and honestly would not discount him in the Classic should he go. |
| 8 | California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) | Sherman | The wild weekend caused him to move up a spot... but still don't think he has a good chance. |
| 9 | Cigar Street (Street Sense) | Mott | Forget the fact that his sire is a BC Juvenile and KY Derby winner (the first one to do that double). His dam is a ½ sister to the one and only legendary 1995 Classic winner. If that's not enough pressure on the Homecoming winner, then I don't know what is. Other then the fact that he has the same trainer as Cigar. |
| 10 | Footbridge (Street Cry (IRE)) | Harty | By a Dubai World Cup winner and whose broodmare sire is also a Dubai World Cup winner. Doesn't get more a mile and a quarter then that. 3rd in the Awesome Again. |
| 11 | Tapiture (Tapit) | Asmussen | Almost had to remove him due to a numbers game, but was able to keep him on. |
| 12 | Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor) | McCarthy | I am not giving up on him... but he looks like he needs at least 10 furlongs. |
Removed: Wicked Strong (Hard Spun)- My
heart breaks for him. He looked like was going to make a big move on
the turn and then clips heels. Sadly his jockey Rajiv Maragh has
broken his arm.
Moreno (Ghostzapper)- I'm not angry at
Moreno himself. Who I am angry at is Junior Alvarado. A deserved DQ.
Itsmyluckyday (Lawyer Ron)- Going to
Kelso... bad idea. He's not BC nominated anyway so maybe they just
saved money.
V.E. Day (English Channel)- 5th
in the JCGC wasn't too bad... but looks like Jimmy Jerkins has said
both him and WS are done for the year. Which is fine as they will
hopefully be back better then ever next year.
Others Considered: Candy Boy (Candy
Ride (ARG)), Departing (War Front), Stephenoatsee (A.P Indy)
Even though the Spinster is next week,
I am not expecting major changes for the Distaff division. Thus this
is the final top horses list for the year. I'm very happy with these
lists and now we wait for pre-entries which will be released later
this month and then the draws.
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