Does it bother anyone that Classic Empire\'s Thoro-pattern shows him as having one of the lowest Top or Pair%s in this field? OTOH some of the wiseguy horses like Practical Joke, Looking at Lee seem to be doing pretty well on that front. Even the slightest regression from his Arkansas Derby effort puts him surely out of contention here. Will the Empire strike back twice?
He & Gormley have the same Thoro-pattern. They both ran their tops 3 races back, months ago, and haven\'t gotten back to the top. His top, done as a 2yo, is the 5th best top in the field and he did it at the earliest stage of development among the 5 highest tops. If it was a top that wasn\'t competitive, I\'d be more concerned.
For Classic Empire, his workouts leading up to the race, and more importantly, his demeanor on Derby day before the race is run are more important than the statistical pattern where the base is the highest 2yo top.