Myectomy after the KJCS at Churchill in November to correct a breathing problem.By all accounts he\'s breathing a lot better as a three year old.
He was off four months going into the Sunland Derby.Also missed a month of training in California due to sickness and bad weather this winter.Horse was short and was up on a hot pace at Sunland in altitude.No way to know if he was just rank/fresh or Leparoux without a clock in his head as usual but Astrology ran his early quarters in 23.01 then 22.64 chasing.Insane for a short horse off a long layoff running a half in 45.65 going nine furlongs.Easy to see why he was on fumes after six furlongs and trying to hold on.
Smith gets on him as a prep for the Preakness and more excuses.Broke thru the gate/down on the inside out of the chute/sloppy sealed track.Still,he didn\'t run all that bad-winner Adios Charlie looks like a pretty solid miler.
I know he\'s gonna look slow going in.If I had to guess maybe in the range of slower paired(4\'s?)tops as a three year old.Off memory I think he was running steady 6\'s as a two year old.Given all of the information he seems one of the few candidates for a moveup on Saturday.Asmussen is not at his best routing off a long layoff-third off the bench should be his best run.Pedigree seems okay AP/Quiet American mare.I can\'t dismiss him off that backing up Sunland effort given the circumstances.
To sum up he\'s slow with a lot of excuses going in but projects for improvement at what should be a price.Anyone see or hear anything about his six furlong work last Monday?
I\'m assuming it was in company with Awesome Act(same final time) but heard nothing about how he did it,galloped out etc.The work yesterday was meaningless-just a leg stretcher.
Clockers say it was just a regular work. Nothing special and they are quoted as saying the stars would have to align on Saturday for Astrology to win the race. Unless he draws poorly, I will be using him in the 3rd and 4th spot.
Big:
Interesting colt with the coming out of a mile race angle that has served other runners well in this race (see Bernardini, Scrappy T, Alydeed). I\'m sure there are some others that ran well off that angle in the Preakness.
Could be as good a play as any, but distance capabilities a huge ? In my mind.
Good Luck,
Joe B.