John Asher from Churchill Downs said last night that Aiden O\'Brien has nominated two horses to the Woodford Reserve on Derby Day. Meaning that more than likely Master of Hounds will be coming over with the intention of running in the Derby. Could this be the year when a Euro wins it and how fast is this horse really? After no favorite has won any derby prep this might be the year!
Racing Post assigned MoH a 115 for both the racing Post Trophy 10/23/2010 and the UAE Derby 3/26/2011. Doesn\'t look to stand out from these but rather just another in the mix.
I just looked at his 2yo sheet from the Breeder\'s Cup summary. Unless he\'s improved a lot this year from his 2yo top of 6.75 on turf, he\'s not a viable contender. Add the TGI numbers that show Kingmambo to be better at siring turf (and synthetic) runners, the history of Europeans in the Derby, and enough horses already in this field with tops between 0 & 3, and Master of Hounds looks like a rank outsider in this year\'s Derby field.
MOH has one RAG fig equal to a TG 4 as a 2yr old.