Nice work! What a great look at what the backside is like at Churchill Downs!
Who will beat Zenyatta? I would say Blame... or herself. That's it.
Good start... but Zenyatta will be 6-5. Keep in mind this will be her last race, an historic event with a wave of feel-good emotion and press behind her run. She won this race rather easily last year, plus, she's undefeated on dirt, too. Realistically, there will only be two horses that can beat her, Blame and Quality Road. And QR will be suspect at this pace and distance, so that really leaves her and Blame. I look for Blame to move the lead at the 1/4 pole, and with a heady ride by Gomez, he'll have something left in the tank. But it better be a lot, because Zenyatta will come with a massive run at him and come flying by. The question is - will she fly by Blame before or after the wire???
It's a little early for Derby picks, but I'd have to put this guy in my early top 10. He just toyed with that group at Belmont on Saturday - winning by 8 3/4 and his Beyer should be about 95. Note - the last 5 Derby winners all broke their maiden by today, October 4. So more than likely the Derby winner has already been spotted.