Magnitude takes top spot in NTRA poll after Stephen Foster romp
Magnitude vaulted to No. 1 in the NTRA poll after a 1 1/4-length Stephen Foster win, taking 26 of 29 first-place votes and seizing the older-horse spotlight.
Magnitude’s 1 1/4-length Stephen Foster romp moved him to No. 1 in the latest NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll, and the vote made the point plainly: this is no longer just a hot streak, it is a horse taking control of the division. Magnitude collected 26 of 29 first-place votes in the June 30 poll after winning Churchill Downs’ $2 million Stephen Foster on June 27, a performance that carried more weight than a routine graded victory.
The 45th running of the Stephen Foster was built for this kind of shift. Churchill Downs doubled the purse from $1 million to $2 million in 2026 and branded the race the “Summer Showdown,” drawing a field that included Sovereignty, White Abarrio, Magnitude and Baeza. Magnitude handled the assignment like a horse with a lock on the summer conversation, leading every step and finishing in front of Baeza, the Grade I Pennsylvania Derby winner. Sovereignty, the reigning Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby 151 winner, was the 4-5 favorite and wound up four lengths back in third.
That matters because the Stephen Foster was not a standalone test. It followed Magnitude’s Dubai World Cup victory and Razorback Handicap win, leaving the son of Not This Time unbeaten in 2026 and giving him a résumé that now stretches from Dubai to Louisville. In a season still setting its pecking order, he has already checked every box that tends to separate a poll leader from the horse everybody has to beat.
The NTRA poll itself is a weekly ranking of the top 10 horses by leading writers and broadcasters, scored on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The standings run through the Monday after the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and conclude on Tuesday, Nov. 3, which gives Magnitude a long runway to hold onto the top spot if he keeps backing up the numbers with the same kind of authority.
Steve Asmussen’s third Stephen Foster win tied him for the most by a trainer in the race’s 45 runnings, and the post-race reaction reflected both the surprise and the significance of the result. Churchill Downs quoted Asmussen as saying, “What an amazing horse,” while Ron Winchell said, “It wasn’t how we thought it would go, but thank God,” after Magnitude broke through the gate before the start and still reloaded to run away with it. The path now looks familiar for Winchell and Asmussen, who once followed the Gun Runner route from Dubai to the Stephen Foster and on to Horse of the Year honors. Magnitude has not reached that finish line yet, but the poll says he has already seized the lead.
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