New leader in NTRA Poll

By: SPORTS NETWORK

New York, NY (Sports Network) - The race to end of the year honors in thoroughbred racing continues to offer constant changes with a new leader again in the NTRA Thoroughbred Poll. Met Mile winner Shackleford moves into first with Game On Dude re-entering the top 10.

Trained by Dale Romans, Shackleford moved from third to first edging out runner-up Alternation. Shackleford received seven top votes and 310 points. He holds a 10-point advantage versus Alternation who had 300 points with 10 first-place votes.

However, leading three-year-old I'll Have Another garnered the most top votes with 15 and 267 points, but fell one spot into third.

Returning to the top 10 is Game On Dude, fresh off his dominating victory Saturday in the Californian at Hollywood Park. The five-year-old gelding picked up four first-place votes and 257 points for fourth in the poll.

"It's so much fun to ride a horse like that, I can't tell you," jockey Chantal Sutherland noted after the 7 1/4-length Californian win. "It's just like unbelievable, the power and so much endurance. Bob (trainer Baffert) said in the paddock he might be a little short. If that's Bob's short, what the heck."

Wise Dan fell for the third week in a row from fourth to fifth with five top votes and 230 points.

Completing the top 10 are Successful Dan (178), Caleb's Posse (169), Bodemeister (105), It's Tricky (83) and Mucho Macho Man (77).

All 41 voters named Kentucky Derby and Preakness champ I'll Have Another as the top three-year-old in the country. Just days until the 144th Belmont Stakes, the chestnut colt sits atop the poll with 410 points.

"He's just a special horse," the colt's trainer Doug O'Neill said. "Good horses do things that are special very easily. It's so humbling to be around a horse like him. He's such a brilliant horse. We wouldn't be here without I'll Have Another's brilliance."

Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister remains second with 369 points followed by Dullahan (294), Creative Cause (274), Union Rags (222), Believe You Can (132), Mark Valeski (95), Hansen (86), Went the Day Well (73) and Paynter (48).