Well,can anyone say Derby Fever......
With one month to go till May 7th, we only have the SA Derby, Wood, Arkansas Derby and the Blue Grass (on synthetics) left...
So far,there aren\'t too many 3 year olds who have really stood out with the exception of The Factor....Blazing sprinter or what his connections initially thought until he ran in the Rebel...Very impressive for his first two turn route race...major contender and may be the speed of this year\'s running of the Derby unless To Honor and Serve reveals his true 2 year old\'s running abilities..
As for Shackleford?? imho..even if he makes it to the big dance,I smell a big time bounce for this one...
What can we say about Nick Zito..they might as well engrave his name on the Florida Derby trophy for the next ten years...My respects for this trainer....He seems to bring along deep closers ala The Cliff\'s Edge, Strike the Gold,Ice Box and Dialed In...and No....Dialed In is no Strike the Gold or Ice Box..sorry Zito, but Dialed In\'s last fraction was unspectacular..
What happened to To Honor and Serve and Soldat in the Florida Derby???? We can assumed that trainer of Soldat wanted his charge to race behind the speed and get some racing experience with dirt flying into his face...but what a disappointing race overall...To Honor and Serve has showned nothing resembling his two year form....in the last 20 years of the Derby....every Derby winner has shown a great 3 year old running line with the exception of Sea Hero, Mine That Bird, and maybe Giacomo..even though that race against Lukas\'s Consolidator can be debatable...
As for Uncle Mo....he sure ran home super fast in his mile race but Uncle Mo was absolutely cantering for the first two fractions...we can expect Uncle Mo to work on sharpening his early speed in the Wood....Super Saver and Uncle Mo seem to have run similar races from their final two year season..but Super Saver ran a better energy race than Uncle Mo did ...
Premier Pegasus won his last race when the blistering pace melted down...I look for some improvement in the last fraction in the Santa Anita Derby....Until then...good luck to everyone..