Giacomo qualified for the following reason:
The winner of the past 12 Derbies had a 9 furlong graded prep race where they finished the final 3 furlongs 51.3 FPS or faster. The qualifing race for Giacomo was the SA Derby where he finished in a sporty 52.8 FPS. The other qualifying races were the Holy Bull (met the mimimum time) Wood, IL Derby and Ar Derby.
The big busts this year were the LA Derby, Lanes End, FL Derby and the slowest of them all, the Blue Grass.
The CA preps were good but most at only 8.5 furlongs. Gotta wonder what those \"Magna 9\" races did to Noble, Hi Fly and Bandini. Or even Bellamy Road where he won N2X by 15.
Not enough to get to the winner this year of course, (numbers were terrible) but finishing is everything, everytime.