Do yourself a favor and watch the replays of Maximus Ruler's races. This horse has a tremendous stride, running by other horses like they are in a different gear. If not for interference, he would have won his debut, and then while still a maiden, he ran away from an allowance field at Churchill Downs very impressively before gearing down at the wire. He got an 85 Beyer in his last, and finished in a very strong 24 4/5 while gearing down.
In the Lecomte at the Fair Grounds, he's got a bunch of thing going for him. He's got the advantageous rail and he's got good speed in a race without a lot of speed. Look for Francisco Torres to have him effortless glide around the first turn and he should be right on the pace without even trying.
He should love two turns, and look for his big stride to pull away from the field by late on the backside run. I think this guy is ready to be an absolute monster - and he's my new Kentucky Derby pick. I think he wins the Lecomte by daylight.
Betting-wise, let's hope we can get 7-2 on him in this wide open field.
Let's go with $50 to win.
For Trifectas, our main play will be 1 with 2-8-9-11 with 2-5-6-8-9-10-11. That's a $24 tri for $1... but let's play this for $4 and try to clobber it!
As a backup, let's play a slightly deeper tri adding the 3 and 7 in third. That's $32.
That's a big $178 investment... but let's see what happens!!!