Breeders Crown champions Confederate and Sylvia Hanover held the top two spots in Tuesday’s Week 21 edition of the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll while two other Crown winners moved up the Top 10 rankings and three other Crown champs moved in. This was the 11th straight week Confederate was ranked No. 1 in the poll.
Three-year-old male trotter Tactical Approach went from sixth to third in the rankings while four-year-old male pacer Bythemissal went from seventh to fourth. Joining the Top 10 were two-year-old male trotter Karl (No. 6), four-year-old female trotter Jiggy Jog S (No. 7) and three-year-old female trotter Bond (No. 10).
Tattoo Artist, who was third in the Open Pace, slipped one spot, from fourth to fifth. T C I, the runner-up to Karl, went from third to eighth while Geocentric, who lost for the first time this season, went from fifth to ninth.
The final Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll will be released on Nov. 28 following the completion of the Grand Circuit season.
The Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll 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 21 – Oct. 31, 2023
| Rank | Name (First Votes) | A/S/G | Record | Earnings (USD) | Points | Pvs |
| 1 | Confederate (35) | 3cp | 13-12-1-0 | $1,544,929 | 350 | 1 |
| 2 | Sylvia Hanover | 3fp | 13-10-2-0 | $767,959 | 310 | 2 |
| 3 | Tactical Approach | 3ct | 17-9-2-4 | $1,319,739 | 251 | 6 |
| 4 | Bythemissal | 4gp | 14-10-1-1 | $839,041 | 208 | 7 |
| 5 | Tattoo Artist | 6hp | 22-9-5-2 | $902,712 | 154 | 4 |
| 6 | Karl | 2ct | 8-7-1-0 | $709,760 | 150 | — |
| 7 | Jiggy Jog S | 4mt | 10-7-3-0 | $950,986 | 145 | — |
| 8 | T C I | 2ct | 12-10-2-0 | $1,238,870 | 128 | 3 |
| 9 | Geocentric | 2fp | 10-9-0-0 | $556,251 | 72 | 5 |
| 10 | Bond | 3ft | 12-8-1-1 | $803,321 | 69 | — |
ALSO: Its My Show 33; Its Academic 18; Grace Hill 13; My Girl EJ 11; M Ms Dream 4; Warrawee Michelle 3; Alrajah One IT, Max Contract, Special Way 2.
(With files from USTA)
Shark Week/Major Custard
Not a single vote for Shark Week this week. As I recall, the last horse to receive at least 1 vote in the final Top 10 Poll of the year that raced exclusively in Canada was Major Custard, in 2020. You could make a claim that he was the second-best 3yopc of 2020 because other than HOTY Tall Dark Stranger, he was the only 3yopc to receive a single vote in the final poll.