The race for the Horse of the Year (HOTY) is heating\nup. Two-thirds of the race season is\nover which means the horses are entering the final turn!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those that are new to the game, there is only one\nHorse of the Year and it is based on annual earnings from stake races. In order to have the HOTY, you need a horse\nthat can rake in the dough by picking up wins in some of the top races offered\nin the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a look at our TOP 10 runners right now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. GENERAL CROOK\n$5,497,500 is owned by Pleasnttap and is the son of Union Rags. He is a three-year-old and started the year\nwith a third in the G2 Land\u2019s End. Much\nof his riches came from his chase to become a Triple Crown winner as he took\nthe first two legs, the Bluegrass Derby and the Middle Jewel but could not stich\nthe crown together when he finished fifth in the final leg, the New\nYorker. His last race was in the\nEquinics where he dropped to 6th<\/sup>. \nCurrently, he is scheduled to run in an allowance race in just over a\nmonth which looks like an opportunity to refresh this top running colt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. KING OF THEIVES\n$4,577,000 is owned by Pboy20 and is the three-year-old son of Flintshire. He has become a long-distance runner, finding\nhis niche at 12 furlongs as well as wins in the Sydney Derby and the Derby de\nEnglish. His last start was in the\nOwner\u2019s Stakes where he finished third. \nHe\u2019s scheduled to run this coming weekend in the $3 million Saint\nLegend, and a win here will push him to the top seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. CAIRO\nBLIZZARD $4,218,000 is a four year old\nand owned by Astin. He was fathered by\nAmerican Pharoah and kicked 2020 off with wins in the G2 Toilet Scrubbers\nAnonymous Handicap and the rich purse of $6 million in the Sand Castle\nClassic. Things have quieted down since\nthese wins with a pair of fourths in a listed stake and G1 Movieland Shiny\nCup. He ran at the end of August in the\nWestern Ocean CA Classic (on the slop) where he crossed the line in third. He\u2019s currently pointed to the Breeders\u2019 Bowl\nClassic, which has a rich purse of $7 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 BOLDEN\nBIDDER $3,000,000 is the oldest horse in\nthe top ten at age five and is a gelding out of Teofilo and owned by\nStoners. He has amassed over $15 million\nover his career as a turf runner. He\u2019s\nraced three times this year at distances of 11- and 12-furlongs bringing home\nwins in the San Francisco Captain Handicap and the Kakarazuka Kinen Cup with a\nsecond in the Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic tossed in between those wins, a\nrace he missed winning by a quarter stride. \nHe\u2019s currently being trained to run in early October in the $6 million\nArk de ComicDog, a race that he won last year and is hopeful in having a repeat\nperformance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. FLAGSTRIKER $2,805,000 is a three year owned by Lenny271 and was sired by U S Navy Flag. Flagstriker is the only G1 winner out of this sire and has found his stride at the mile distance and netted five wins this season. He started the year with a 4-race win streak with wins in the G3 Jellyton, a listed win, the G3 Irish 2000 Guineas Trial and the G1 2000 Guineas. The streak was busted with a fifth in the G1 Jean Brat, but the Equinics brought home a photo-finish win in early August. He\u2019s currently being pointed to the $750,000 Sourball Mile in early October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. MERCHANT OF\nMOGO $2,775,000 is a four-year-old colt that is owned by Deyoto. He has raced six times this season and pulled\nout wins in the 10 furlongs Mr. Met Cap and the Aussie Queen. He held on to get a third in July in the Man\nOf War Stakes, but was off the board in the other three starts, including his\nmost recent outing in the Windy City Turf Classic (7th<\/sup>). Merchant of Magoo\u2019s is set to run again at\nthe end of September in the Classic Turf Stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. HOPKINSON\nFLYER $2,760,000 has been sired by Arrogate and is owned by\nCadet. This three-year-old became a\nBluegrass Derby hopeful after storming from way back to win the Vermont is 4\nLovers by half a stride back in February. \nAnother win followed in a listed stake prep race for the Bluegrass\nDerby, which he qualified for. He again\nused his late kick in the big Bluegrass event but ran out of room and finished\nthird. He took on the New Yorker and\nfell flat, finishing 9th<\/sup>. \nBut Hopkinson would come right back with a solid victory in the Eddie\nHaskell. He returned to New York to\nrace in the Travelers and had no late run and finished a disappointing 10th<\/sup>\nin his recent race. His next stop is scheduled\nfor early October in the G2 Usain Bolt with a purse of $375,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. AMORE MISTERIOSO $2,700,000 is owned by Dixiedotcom and is the three year\nold son out of Galileo. This colt has\njust recent came on the radar as a HOTY hopeful back in May when he won the\nlions share of a $3 million purse in the Japanese Derby. He followed that up with a win in the Irish\nDerby using his early speed to go gate to wire in both races. He\u2019s been on a bit of a rest since the win in\nJune and is now being prepped for a late September run in the Classic Turf with\na purse of $750,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. LIFE POINT\nENTRY $2,535,000 is a four year old gelding who was sired by\nPoint of Entry and is owned by Tyedye. \nHe has been on a hot streak winning his last three starts, all at 12\nfurlongs. This streak started in may\nwhere he won by 4 (after trailing by as much as 16 lengths) in the G2 Carlsbad\nLessons. He had another large winning\nmargin (this time by over 5 lengths) in the Saint Cloud Grand Prix. His most recent race was a win in what may\nbe the longest G1 named race in the King Geoff and Queen Beth\u2019s Emerald Stakes. He\u2019s\ncurrently scheduled to compete in early October in the Ark De ComicDog and\nseeking to cash in on the purse worth $6 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. FLAVORS OF\nMAYEM $2,310,000 is a three year old colt out of Uncle Mo and\nis owned by Lenny271, and is the second of his horses in the top 10 shooting\nfor the HOTY. During 2020, he has\npicked up wins in a pair of listed stake races but did find some sizeable paychecks\nin the G1 Dreams of Zambia which helped him earn an entry later on into the\nBluegrass Derby, where he tired and finished 6th<\/sup>. But he did find a nice payday in the 12f New\nYorker wiring the field to win by less than a stride. His last start was in the Travelers and he\nwas passed by a few horses in the stretch and finished fourth. We won\u2019t be seeing him for a while as he is being\nrested for a run in the November\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Bowl Classic with eyes set on the\nrich $7 million purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ALSO IN THE HUNT (with over $2 million):<\/p>\n\n\n\n LEVER ZERRETT\u00a0 $2,275,000 – Won three grade level races this year, including last two starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GIANT\u2019S KASH $2,193,750 – Last Years HOTY has been ITM in 4 graded this year, with win in last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VOYAGE OF CHARON \n$2,175,000- On the board in last 2 G1 races with a second and a win in\nlast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IMPACTXIA \n$2,085,000 \u2013 Has listed and G1 win; ITM in two other graded races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PARISH HILL $2,085,000 \u2013 Five straight wins starting with\nlisted, G2 and three G1\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BEP $2,035,000 \u2013 Two wins and second in listed; won last\ntwo grade level stakes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The race for the Horse of the Year (HOTY) is heating up. Two-thirds of the race season is over which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53275,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53273\/revisions\/53275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}