Thursday, March 18, 2010

Derby Top Ten

1.) Lookin at Lucky- Displayed all the traits of a champion in the Rebel. He has the breeding, the foundation, the ability, and the grit. He has shown he can go two turns and now he shows that he can run over dirt. He is the only horse with no more questions to answer.

2.) Rule- What has this colt done wrong? Every time they ask him to step up his game he does, and he does it with ease. The only question is will he rate?

3.) Conveyance- Can he get the distance? Smarty Jones was a speed ball in 2004 and he won the Derby. This colt has the great Holly Bull in his family, who was also a big time speedster. Common Sense tells me to not trust this colt, but intuition says go for it.

4.) Eskendereya- He is not my favorite colt on the trail, but I cannot ignore his dominating performance in the Fountain of Youth. The reason he is not ranked higher is because I am waiting for him to come back and duplicate that performance.

5.) Dublin- Drops a few places after last weekend's loss. He could've bounced a bit, but after a questionable ride, he looked like he tired a bit in the stretch. A good run in the Arkansas Derby would redeem him.

6.) Caracortado- To dismiss this gelding would be a mistake. He ran extremely well in his last, considering he was trying to run down a loose on the lead speed horse, that ran a sloth-like three quarters. His record is still impressive, when considering his worst placing is a third and the rest are wins.

7.) Odyseuss- Passed his first stakes test, but one has to wonder if he's the quality of those above him, after Rule beat the same bunch easily. However Tampa Bay is a quirky track, and he displayed a lot of heart, despite it only being his fourth start.

8.) Super Saver-He didn't really wow me in his Kentucky Jockey Club win, but he has a win over Churchill, and a dominant one at that. His last was a very useful race off a layoff and should set him up well for races down the line.

9.) Schoolyard Dreams- An improving colt who captures my interest. He has finished second twice in a row now, but those losses came at the hooves of some nice colts, both of whom have made my top ten.

10.) Jackson Bend- I refuse to give up on this colt. He is as honest as they come and he has never finished out of the money. His last two races came to two brilliant colts. I think I will give him another chance, but he'll have to prove his quality over a distance of ground to improve.

2 comments:

  1. I think you have Odysseus well listed for now. He's got tons of talent and incredible potential. The way he won with his second rally tells me that he will be back to his "open-lenght" winning ways if the connections can get him to change leads faster in the stretch.
    Not much more to say about Lookin At Lucky, I've always had him as my number one but he seeems like a monster now and Baffert says he wasn't cranked up for his best effort yet!

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