Storming Inti (three-year-old) and Real Solution (older horse) remained atop the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-bred Poll this week. But the competition is breathing down their necks.
For Storming Inti, his bridesmaid-itis is beginning to give voters pause. He most recently ran third in the ungraded Sir Cat Stakes at Saratoga -- the fourth time this year he ran second or third in a stake.
The Pennsylvania-bred remained atop the list, but that might not have been the case, except for a scheduling oddity. Maryland-bred Daring Dancer won the Grade 2 Lake George at Saratoga on Wednesday -- after some voters had already registered their selections. As a result, the filly, a daughter of Empire Maker out of Vienna Affair, by Red Ransom, received five first-place votes -- more than any other horse in a widely spread vote -- but not votes for any other position.
Daring Dancer, a Sagamore Farm homebred trained by Graham Motion, has won four of five career starts, including a pair of graded events.
Fourteen three year-olds received at least one vote. Storming Inti has held the top spot since the May 9 poll, but the son of Stormy Atlantic has just a single win from six starts in 2014.
Among older horses, Grade 1 Manhattan winner Real Solution, another Pennsylvania-bred, retained the top spot -- by the narrowest of margins.
The big mover on the list was Maryland-bred Ben's Cat, whose from-the-clouds victory in the Grade 3 Parx Dash vaulted him up the list, nearly to the top spot. Real Solution took down seven first-place votes and held a 43-41 edge over Ben's Cat in points. Real Solution has held the top spot since the June 20 poll.
Pennsylvania-bred Princess of Sylmar, second in the prior poll, slipped to third after running second, at odds-on, in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap.
Six of the 10 listed horses, including both poll-toppers, were bred in Pennsylvania. Three were bred in Maryland, while one was bred in West Virginia. Six were males, and four were females.
This marked the ninth semi-monthly edition of the poll.
Horses that have run in 2014 and were bred in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and the Carolinas were eligible.
