Lucky got a 97 Beyer for his impressive, troubled run. Give the same fig to Noble's Promise, not bad at all for his dirt and 3yo debut. Dublin was 3 back in third, so figure about a 90 for him. Not a terrible race for Dublin considering he was 5 wide the first turn, and then launched his move 4 wide on the far turn. That's not the place to be at Oaklawn.
Odysseus got a 93 Beyer for his Tampa Bay Derby win - so Schoolyard Dreams gets the same figure as well. Figure Super Saver gets a 92 for being a 1/2 length behind. Randy Moss wrote on his DRF blog that this race had a good pace early - also lot of talk about the big move Schoolyard Dreams made wide into the pace. If he can sustain that run, he could be formidable. The question is, why didn't he sustain the run? Was he short, short on pedigree, or maybe that's the limit of his run?
Sidney's Candy got a 95 Beyer figure for the San Felipe. Not a bad race by Interactif or Caracortado, either.
Elliott told TVG on Saturday that Drosselmeyer was going to the La Derby.
Very impressive race by Lookin at Lucky. If you didn't see it, watch the replay, because he gets checked pretty hard on the backstretch. But coming for home, Garrett Gomez had tons of horse. Very nice dirt debut for Noble's Promise, but it's still hard to imagine him going a mile and a quarter.
Someone must think very highly of Stay Put. Have to say, I think he's way underrated and totally deserves a spot in the top 15. It's pointless to rank horses like Conveyance, Sidney's Candy and Discreetly Mine higher - those horse simply won't go a mile and a quarter.
The truth is that racing secretaries are big wimps when it comes to assigning weights. They rarely assign high weights, except in the case like this where Zenyatta's camp really can't complain. They create big spreads to entice the others to run.
Misremembered is a very solid older horse. Ran a terrific race in the Clark from a bad post, signaling what he could do in the future. With the handicap ranks lacking stars beyond Quality Road, he could win some bigger races this year.
Yes, there will be a ton of attention paid to both Zenyatta's and Rachel's babies. Usually, the excitement is never matched. Didn't Genuine Risk and Winning Colors both fail to produce much of anything? Maybe the same for Princess Rooney and Lady's Secret? Isn't there some theory about mares that run too hard on the track don't produce great offspring? It's been a while, but I remember reading that theory - no idea if there is anything to that.
Baffert is trying to make up for lost time. He didn't have a choice - Lucky didn't train the second half of January. Now it's catch up time. That could work if he gets a good race in the Rebel, if not, he could be even further behind the 8-ball.
