Breeders Crown champion Twin B Joe Fresh solidified her hold on No. 1 in the Week 20 Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll released on Tuesday, Oct. 29 while Maryland, Sig Sauer, Winners Bet and My Girl EJ all improved their positions thanks to Crown victories.
Twin B Joe Fresh received 32 first-place votes and her advantage over retired No. 2 Jiggy Jog S increased from 32 points last week to 63 points this week, the largest margin for a No. 1-ranked horse this season. Twin B Joe Fresh has held the poll’s top spot for 16 consecutive weeks.
Two-year-old male trotter Maryland, who is the sport’s richest horse this season following his Breeders Crown triumph, moved from sixth to third in the rankings. Idle Chantilly remained fourth while Sig Sauer vaulted from eighth to fifth.
Captain Albano and Nijinsky, who finished third and second, respectively, in the Breeders Crown for three-year-old male pacers, dropped to sixth and seventh in the poll. Crown champs Winners Bet and My Girl EJ moved into the Top 10 at eighth and ninth while retired Karl was No. 10, one point ahead of Crown-winning three-year-old colt pacer Mirage Hanover.
The Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, which will be released every Tuesday through the remainder of the Grand Circuit season, does not determine U.S. Horse of the Year. The members of the U.S. Harness Writers Association vote on all Dan Patch Award division winners plus Trotter of the Year, Pacer of the Year and Horse of the Year.
Rankings based on the votes of harness racing media representatives on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Standardbred Poll: Week 20 – Oct. 29, 2024
| Rank | Name (First Votes) | A/S/G | Record | Earnings (USD) | Points | Pvs |
| 1 | Twin B Joe Fresh (32) | 4mp | 12-10-2-0 | $827,062 | 347 | 1 |
| 2 | Jiggy Jog S (3) | 5mt | 6-6-0-0 | $934,188 | 284 | 2 |
| 3 | Maryland | 2ct | 8-5-1-1 | $1,145,378 | 243 | 6 |
| 4 | Chantilly | 2fp | 9-9-0-0 | $560,315 | 203 | 4 |
| 5 | Sig Sauer | 3ct | 10-5-0-1 | $871,812 | 171 | 8 |
| 6 | Captain Albano | 3cp | 15-9-1-3 | $874,343 | 153 | 3 |
| 7 | Nijinsky | 3cp | 14-10-3-0 | $1,052,920 | 111 | 5 |
| 8 | Winners Bet | 4ht | 11-8-0-0 | $729,254 | 104 | -- |
| 9 | My Girl EJ | 3fp | 16-9-4-1 | $745,663 | 77 | -- |
| 10 | Karl | 3ct | 13-9-1-1 | $1,004,089 | 65 | 7 |
ALSO: Mirage Hanover 64; Call Me Goo 31; Louprint 20; Legendary Hanover 11; R Melina 9; Fallout, Rocket Deo 6; Coach Stefanos, Little Rocket Man, Logan Park, Miki And Minnie 3; Greenspan, Gruesome Twosome 2; Abuckabett Hanover, Direction, Its A Love Thing, Shark Week 1.
(With files from USTA)
Twin B Joe Fresh
From now until Dec. 31, I think we can safely refer to Twin B Joe Fresh as the presumptive HOTY.