Horse Illustrated Magazine

For horse lovers, the best Super Bowl ad was a no-brainer. Anheuser-Busch’s 2013 offering showcased the beloved Clydesdales again this year, this time showing an orphaned foal and his trainer developing a bond through the horse’s early years.

The horses in the commercial were trained by popular clinician, trick rider and “equine extremist” Tommie Turvey. The youngest foal featured in the ad was just seven days old during the shoot. While all Clydesdales selected for the Budweiser hitch are geldings, the young foal is actually a filly, born Jan. 16. Budweiser has already made a celebrity out of the youngster, turning to Twitter to ask fans to offer their suggestions for her name. On Monday, Feb. 4, the filly was officially named Hope, and a second foal born this year was named Stan after St. Louis Cardinals legend Stan Musial.

The sense of rural pride ran deep this year as the No. 3 spot on the Ad Meter ranking was Dodge’s “Farmers” ad. This two-minute commercial combined a recording of a 1978 tribute to farmers by the late radio broadcaster Paul Harvey over images of hardscrabble farming life. The Future Farmers of America logo appears at the end of the ad, beneath the Dodge Ram emblem.

In between these two solemn spots was more traditional Super Bowl fare. The second spot on the Ad meter list went to a Tide ad where a man’s salsa stain in the image of Joe Montana brings the promise of fame and fortunee–until his wife throws his sacred jersey in the wash.

USA TODAY’s ad meter is a rating system for Super Bowl ads that uses panelist scoring to determine the most popular ads aired during the game. The average rating from all panelists is used for the score. This year, the top two places were extremely close with the Budweiser ad earning a 7.76 and the Tide scoring 7.75.

For more information and to view all of the ads from last Sunday’s game, visit admeter.usatoday.com.

Watch behind-the-scenes footage of the Budweiser Clydesdales in Journey to the Super Bowl.