Catch The Fire and Charlie May join Top 10 in Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll
August 17, 2021,Hightstown, NJ — Catch The Fire and Charlie May joined the Top 10 in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll as every horse in the upper echelon of this week’s voting received at least 100 points. It is the first time since Week 8 in 2018, a span of 81 polls, that every horse in the Top 10 tallied triple digits.
The top five horses in the rankings — Manchego, Captain Corey, Hot Mess Express, Atlanta, and Lyons Sentinel — did not race and were unchanged from last week.
Test Of Faith, who won a division of the New York Sire Stakes, moved from eighth to sixth in the poll. She was followed by Dan Patch Stakes winner Catch The Fire and Carl Milstein Memorial champion Charlie May, whose time of 1:48.4 at Northfield was the fastest ever for a 3-year-old pacer on a half-mile oval.
Bella Bellini and King Of The North, both idle last week, completed the Top 10.
Manchego received 31 of 35 first-place votes while Hot Mess Express got one and Charlie May garnered three.
This Is The Plan, who was fifth in the Dan Patch Stakes, and Venerable dropped from the Top 10. Venerable, who won the second leg of the Kentucky Championship Series, gained 15 points from last week but saw her total of 90 points leave her one spot shy of the Top 10.
The Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll does not determine 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 13 – 8/17/2021
| Rank | Name (First Votes) | A/S/G | Record | Earnings | Points | Pvs |
| 1 | Manchego (31) | 6mt | 7-6-0-1 | $419,755 | 344 | 1 |
| 2 | Captain Corey | 3ct | 5-3-1-0 | $583,695 | 250 | 2 |
| 3 | Hot Mess Express (1) | 3fp | 7-7-0-0 | $314,590 | 219 | 3 |
| 4 | Atlanta | 6mt | 5-3-1-0 | $198,346 | 162 | 4 |
| 5 | Lyons Sentinel | 4mp | 10-4-1-2 | $270,908 | 139 | 5 |
| 6 | Test Of Faith | 3fp | 7-6-1-0 | $207,050 | 126 | 8 |
| 7 | Catch The Fire | 4hp | 10-7-1-1 | $335,863 | 118 | — |
| 8 | Charlie May (3) | 3gp | 12-5-4-0 | $399,850 | 116 | — |
| 9 | Bella Bellini | 3ft | 11-7-4-0 | $382,585 | 114 | 7 |
| 10 | King Of The North | 2ct | 5-5-0-0 | $274,390 | 107 | 9 |
ALSO: Venerable 90; This Is The Plan 54; Nicholas Beach 17; Winning Ticket 13; Allywag Hanover 9; Beads 8; Bulldog Hanover, Hellabalou, Pebble Beach 6; Perfect Sting, Rockyroad Hanover 5; Betterhavemymoney 3; Ahundreddollarbill, So Much More 2; Batterup Hanover, Lawless Shadow, Ponda Warrior, Southwind Gendry 1.