nice analysis on BG......... I though Ats would run better. sure, he didn\'t take the turn very well, but he didn\'t seem to have a heck of a lot of punch at the end. if I were Michael Tabor, I would have at least two three year olds on a flight heading west tomorrow morning. and this may sound a bit crazy, but if I were Shug, I would run SFF in the Arkansas Derby next week as a prep, then take a shot at the Derby. If EM doesn\'t get any faster (which given the usual Frankel line is quite possible), I have to imagine HTG and SFF are the two best three year olds out there.
This horse may turn out to be another Thunder Gulch. Go back and looked at the tape of the race again. When he turned for home Flores barely struck the horse with the whip. They were ever so slightly closer to the pace. What I\'m saying is the horse was not dead last. This race may not have been the number 1 objective believe it or not.
He has undergone a lot of development and a big race here would give him almost no shot on Derby Day. When he gets to Ky the added distance will be in his favor and a couple of visits from world renouned vet Doc Harthill surely won\'t hurt either. The other good thing is your price just went from about 4-1 to 8-1.
We all need to see how he does when he gets to Ky, works etc. But most importantly its not what I think its what TGJB thinks as he proved once again on Saturday that he owns the 3YO Classics.
I still like the horse, but I\'m not sure he has the class I thought he had. The SA Derby tends to separate the contenders from the pretenders (unlike the Kee BG), and given the slow final fractions, I needed to see more energy from ATS down the lane. But you make a good point, if he does train like a monster in Ky, I will be more willing to forgive the average effort on Saturday.
I personally don\'t see ATS running better than a 2 on Derby Day and it\'s going to take a 0 to win this Race.
Five races as a 3yo is a huge historic negative going into the derby, too much in a short period of time, as well as being unraced at two. [this jinx will fall soon enough]
ATS also wears a form of bar shoe while training. Perhaps he has ouchy feet and that\'s why he\'s blown the turns racing wide in his last few.
He might not make it into the field with Graded earnings.
Later,
bdhsheets