Each week, members of the national media vote on the nation's top contenders on the Triple Crown trail in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

In horse racing, margin of victory is usually measured in lengths, which might seem like an imprecise measure but over time has come to be standardized as the length of a horse from nose to tail, about eight feet. Ten lengths then is 80 feet, just a couple of feet longer than a tennis court. In 2006, 80 feet was the measure of a star, a 2-year-old colt who would make history on the first Saturday in May a few months later.