Bolt d'Oro, a multiple grade 1 winner, and Good Magic, winner of the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), have both been assigned the highweight of 126 pounds to top the 2017 Jockey Club Top 2-Year-Old Rankings, formerly known as the Experimental Free Handicap.
The 126 pounds assigned to these two horses is the standard impost for top horses included in the rankings.
Mendelssohn, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), received the third highest weight of all eligible 2-year-old males at 123 pounds.
The highest weighted filly, at 123 pounds, was Caledonia Road, winner of the 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
The Jockey Club's Annual Top 2-Year-Old Rankings are a weight-based assessment of the previous year's leading 2-year-olds, with the weights compiled for a hypothetical race at 1 1/16 miles. This year's list of eligible horses to be weighted included all 2-year-olds of 2017 that started in graded or listed stakes races run in the United States or Canada.
The racing secretaries on the weighting committee were P.J. Campo of The Stronach Group, Ben Huffman of Churchill Downs and Keeneland, Steve Lym of Woodbine Entertainment, Martin Panza of the New York Racing Association, and Thomas S. Robbins of Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.
Out of the eligible 245 males and 215 fillies, a total of 135 males and 119 fillies were assigned weights. All weight assignments, as well as past performances for those horses, are available within the resources section of jockeyclub.com.
Bolt d'Oro, by Medaglia d'Oro out of Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy, won three of four starts, including the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and the FrontRunner Stakes (G1). He was third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Good Magic, by Curlin out of Glinda the Good, by Hard Spun , won one of three starts. In addition to winning the Juvenile, he finished second in the Champagne Stakes (G1).
Caledonia Road, by Quality Road out of Come a Callin, by Dixie Union, won two out of three starts. She finished second in the Frizette Stakes (G1) before winning the Juvenile Fillies.
Kentucky was the foaling state for Bolt d'Oro and Good Magic, while Caledonia Road was bred in Florida. Kentucky was again the leading foaling state or province of all weighted horses with 87 males and 73 fillies; Florida and New York were second in males with eight, and Florida was second in fillies with 10. Great Britain and Ireland led foaling countries outside of North America in males with three, and Ireland led fillies with five.
Scat Daddy was the leading sire of weighted males with six, while Malibu Moon was the leading sire of weighted fillies with five.
The following are a few facts about The Jockey Club's Annual Top 2-Year-Old Rankings, which were renamed as such in December of 2017:
• Originally called The Experimental Handicap, the rankings were started in 1933 in the U.S. as a variation of England's Free Handicap. There was no experimental compiled in 1934.
• Today a mythical race designed to gauge the ability of top 2-year-olds during their 3-year-old campaigns, the Experimental Handicap was for more than a decade a real race.
• The Experimental Handicap was a six-furlong race from 1940 through 1945.
• The "free" designation became part of the name from 1946 to 1952 because there was no nomination fees.
• From 1946 to 1952, the Experimental Free Handicap was contested as two races: one at 6 furlongs and another at 1 1/16 miles.
• The six-furlong division of the race was discontinued in 1956, and the race was not held in 1957.
• Seven of the 12 Triple Crown winners led their 2-year-old class: Whirlaway (126), Count Fleet (132), Citation (126), Secretariat (129), Seattle Slew (126), Affirmed (126), and American Pharoah (126).
• Since 2007, out of the top 20 ranked horses for each year, 83 have competed in Triple Crown races. Of those 83, there have been 26 finishes in the top three positions, including nine wins: Street Sense (127), Super Saver (122), Lookin At Lucky (126), Union Rags (126), American Pharoah (126), Nyquist (126), and Exaggerator (119).
Note that this year the weighting committee added Therapist to the list of males with a weight of 110 pounds, but he was not in the original list. He won all three of his races last year, including two black-type races that were not listed. Therefore, there are 136 male horses total.
