Golden Tempo holds top spot in NTRA poll before Preakness

Golden Tempo kept a firm hold on the top of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top 3-Year-Old Poll with 311 points, up from 301 the previous week, and the order behind him did not move. With the Preakness Stakes set for May 16 at Laurel Park, the latest poll reads less like a scoreboard and more like a stress test: the Kentucky Derby winner still owns the division until someone in the next few weeks proves otherwise.

That matters because the poll did not just preserve Golden Tempo’s No. 1 ranking, it confirmed the shape of the division. Renegade stayed No. 2, Chief Wallabee No. 3, Crude Velocity No. 4, Commandment No. 5, Stark Contrast No. 6, Always a Runner No. 7, Further Ado No. 8, The Puma No. 9 and Incredibolt No. 10. In other words, the Derby result has not been followed by a serious reshuffling, and the sport’s leading media voters still see Golden Tempo as the colt to beat.

The timing is what gives the poll its bite. The NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll is compiled weekly from votes by racing writers and broadcasters on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, and it runs from March through the Monday following the Belmont Stakes. That makes the May 11 release a checkpoint before the second jewel, not a final verdict. If a rival is going to crack Golden Tempo’s grip, it likely has to happen on a big stage, not in the margins of a weekly ranking.

Golden Tempo’s rise has been abrupt and convincing. He was 13th in the poll before the Kentucky Derby, then rallied from far back in an 18-horse field to win the 152nd Derby by a neck. That performance pushed him to the top with 22 first-place votes and 301 points, and the new 311-point total shows voters did not treat the Derby as a one-off. Cherie DeVaux’s win made her the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, and it gave Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable a colt whose résumé keeps growing with every start.

The form behind the Derby also supports the ranking. Golden Tempo won the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds, earning 20 Road to the Kentucky Derby points, and he had already finished third in both the Risen Star Stakes and the Louisiana Derby. He is a son of Curlin out of the Grade 3-winning Bernardini mare Carrumba, from the family of champion Heavenly Prize, a pedigree that leaves room for more as the distances stretch out.

TrueNicks noted that Incredibolt remained 10th in the latest poll, while Ocelli, Taj Mahal and Preakness morning-line favorite Iron Honor received votes outside the top 10. For now, though, the class of the crop still looks familiar: Golden Tempo on top, the challengers still chasing, and the Preakness waiting to decide whether the hierarchy is real or just waiting for the next race to crack it.