ROTW- Illinois Derby

[jimbo66]

Tough tough race T-Graph picked for the ROTW.  

A couple of points on the race:

1.  Kansas City Boy\'s figure for the LA derby is one of those numbers that makes no visual sense to me.  In that race, the horse showed little of his early zip, never threatened and was the only horse near the early pace that lost ground and finished up the track.  Vicarage has come back and ran miserably in Florida.  Everything about his LA Derby says \"miserable race\", except the T-Graph number, which has him pairing up. I am not questioning the number, but it didn\'t match my eyes and I am curious if I am in the minority on that or not.

2.  Rikman looks like the play to me, especially if he is near 5-1 in the race, which I think he will be.  However, part of the reason I think he will be that price is that H. Castillo is riding him.  You would think that if Mott realized how good his horse was running on the numbers, he would get a better rider than H. Castillo.

3.  I think Greeley\'s Galaxy is a must use in the exotics with the inside draw and tactial speed.  You have to like Desormeaux coming in for the ride.  Tough to figure what those slow \"handily\" works mean for the horse and also whether a son of Mr. Greeley wants 1 1/8.  I don\'t know the dam side.  Anybody?

Good luck

[shanahan]

like your thinking...at this point, I am going Rikman/all/win me over for the tri, and a rikman/win me over EX small to cover JIC...

[kev]

First off KC doesnt look that great anyways, 3 trys at getting back to a 2yr top, not for me. RIKMAN alot of improvement from the 2yr top 8pts, that\'s almost Storm Creek  full range for it\'s offspring can go. Anyway\'s I see this one backing up once again to a 3.2 to 4.2 which might get him a check. I like MAGNA GRADUATE nice 2yr line, moves about 2 1/2pts from the old top. The TGI for Honor Grades says more is to come. Will it come today or next out?? The short rest is the thing that I worry about, but I still like him to move to the next level maybe a 1.3, yes GREELEY\'S GALAXY could move one more time the 4.3 isnt that fast of a number for a 3yr old nowdays.

[HP]

I like MONARCH LANE on top. I\'d probably box him a little with GREELY\'S GALAXY on the rail.

Good luck!  HP

[STB]

jimbo,

Haven\'t looked at the race yet, but if I wind up on Rikman I won\'t let the choice of rider scare me away. Mott and Castillo actually click at a decent rate, albeit from a limited sample size, and I think Mott used him on Vision and Verse in this race in \'99 (and in that year\'s Belmont as well).

[spa]

It\'s nice to see \"66\" taking a shot.

[spa]

PS....Rikman/Greeley G...... exacta box.....