I hope you all enjoyed the fantastic weekend of racing! We had some dramatic races, some really fast Beyers, but not a whole lot of surprises. And I don't think we learned too much about the horses on the Road to the Kentucky Derby in the Withers, Sam F Davis and Robert B Lewis.
The one surprise was Falling Sky wiring the field while routing for the first time. Upsetting My Name is Michael, who's name was third in the chart. Speak Logistics claimed a foul against the eventual winner for cutting him off, but the stewards threw out the appeal. If you want my opinion, even if there was a foul Speak Logistics was not thrown off too much and should have come back, if he were a genuine contender. Instead, he sheepishly crossed the finish line fourth. This win makes the three year old colt out of Lion Heart three out of four, his only disappointment was the Tampa Bay Downs Inaugual Stakes, losing to his half brother and undefeated sprinter Purple Egg. Falling Sky ran a respectable 92 Beyer for joint top Beyer this weekend in Derby Prep races with Robert B Lewis runaway winner, Flashback.
Only four horses took to the gate in this year's edition of the Robert B Lewis, guaranteeing each of them points towards qualification for the 139th Run for the Roses. In stark contrast to Kentucky Derby field, perhaps we learned the least in this race. Flashback dominated, setting the slowest half mile at Santa Anita for this meet, before easily waltzing home by five plus lengths. But it wasn't even that close. No traffic, no blinding pace, no checking, no bumping, no competition, nothing learned. Flashback didn't have to shift gears until he was ready and we all know this won't be the case on derby day. Now you could say that Flashback wasn't really urged and still earned a 92 Beyer, which is a legitimate argument, but this race amounted to little more than a strong workout for the son of Tapit. He did score in the fastest time among the three derby prep stakes of the day. Lets see what he does in either the San Felipe or Santa Anita Derby, I'm sure we'll see larger fields in both of them.
Perhaps the most impressive race run on the day earned the lowest Beyer figure. The colt out of War Pass, Revolutionary, had a revolutionary trip with jockey Javier Castellano in the Withers at Aqueduct. Trailing the field at the top of the stretch and looking at a wall of horses resembling the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour, the odds on favorite was well restrained to the three-quarters pole. Castellano wisely saved ground, hugging the rail until he could see daylight. The only problem? There wasn't any daylight. The horses were four wide, blocking any possible moves for the Pletcher trained horse. Instead he rode Escapefromreality's butt once he popped off the rail to pursue the lead. Then rather than go three wide down the stretch, Castellano splits(!) Escapefromreality and Siete de Oros. Truly an impressive ride. They say most horses have one move, good horses have two moves and great horses have three moves. In the Withers, we saw a great horse win. He should rocket up most Derby contender lists and has been crushed down to 15/1 in the futures. It might be an overlay should he continue with a run like this. Pletcher will most likely be pointing him towards Gulfstream's Florida Derby or Fair Ground's Louisiana Derby for an extra 1/16 of a mile.
With the new Road to the Kentucky Derby points system, we're going not to see too many oddball sprinters setting a ridiculous pace. We are most likely going to see fractions like the one's set in these three stakes races. Even the pace in the Sam F Davis was rather average, albeit marginally faster than the other two. But given these three races are emblematic of how the Kentucky Derby will be run, we easily learned the most from the Withers. We learned Falling Sky can route, Flashback needs a real race and we learned Revolutionary is the real deal in his second consecutive win.
The one surprise was Falling Sky wiring the field while routing for the first time. Upsetting My Name is Michael, who's name was third in the chart. Speak Logistics claimed a foul against the eventual winner for cutting him off, but the stewards threw out the appeal. If you want my opinion, even if there was a foul Speak Logistics was not thrown off too much and should have come back, if he were a genuine contender. Instead, he sheepishly crossed the finish line fourth. This win makes the three year old colt out of Lion Heart three out of four, his only disappointment was the Tampa Bay Downs Inaugual Stakes, losing to his half brother and undefeated sprinter Purple Egg. Falling Sky ran a respectable 92 Beyer for joint top Beyer this weekend in Derby Prep races with Robert B Lewis runaway winner, Flashback.
Only four horses took to the gate in this year's edition of the Robert B Lewis, guaranteeing each of them points towards qualification for the 139th Run for the Roses. In stark contrast to Kentucky Derby field, perhaps we learned the least in this race. Flashback dominated, setting the slowest half mile at Santa Anita for this meet, before easily waltzing home by five plus lengths. But it wasn't even that close. No traffic, no blinding pace, no checking, no bumping, no competition, nothing learned. Flashback didn't have to shift gears until he was ready and we all know this won't be the case on derby day. Now you could say that Flashback wasn't really urged and still earned a 92 Beyer, which is a legitimate argument, but this race amounted to little more than a strong workout for the son of Tapit. He did score in the fastest time among the three derby prep stakes of the day. Lets see what he does in either the San Felipe or Santa Anita Derby, I'm sure we'll see larger fields in both of them.
Perhaps the most impressive race run on the day earned the lowest Beyer figure. The colt out of War Pass, Revolutionary, had a revolutionary trip with jockey Javier Castellano in the Withers at Aqueduct. Trailing the field at the top of the stretch and looking at a wall of horses resembling the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour, the odds on favorite was well restrained to the three-quarters pole. Castellano wisely saved ground, hugging the rail until he could see daylight. The only problem? There wasn't any daylight. The horses were four wide, blocking any possible moves for the Pletcher trained horse. Instead he rode Escapefromreality's butt once he popped off the rail to pursue the lead. Then rather than go three wide down the stretch, Castellano splits(!) Escapefromreality and Siete de Oros. Truly an impressive ride. They say most horses have one move, good horses have two moves and great horses have three moves. In the Withers, we saw a great horse win. He should rocket up most Derby contender lists and has been crushed down to 15/1 in the futures. It might be an overlay should he continue with a run like this. Pletcher will most likely be pointing him towards Gulfstream's Florida Derby or Fair Ground's Louisiana Derby for an extra 1/16 of a mile.
With the new Road to the Kentucky Derby points system, we're going not to see too many oddball sprinters setting a ridiculous pace. We are most likely going to see fractions like the one's set in these three stakes races. Even the pace in the Sam F Davis was rather average, albeit marginally faster than the other two. But given these three races are emblematic of how the Kentucky Derby will be run, we easily learned the most from the Withers. We learned Falling Sky can route, Flashback needs a real race and we learned Revolutionary is the real deal in his second consecutive win.
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