Oaklawn 8th, The Northern Spur

[toppled]

#6 High North is my best bet of the day.  He has a nice pattern of development and comes in with a much smoother sheet than the 3/2 favorite, #1 Title Ready, who beat him by 6.5 lengths getting an 11 point higher Beyer but only a 1.25 better sheet.  With the 4 pound difference they\'re already close to equal as the 2 fastest colts in the race.  The crowd will be all over Title Ready because his last 2 Beyers tower over the field, but the winner will be High North, hopefully at every bit of the 7/2 ML odds.

[Tavasco]

I agree that your choice #6 High North is a legit contentender. The popularity of Title Ready is a  bit mystifying to me. His vulnerability was exposed in the Rebel, which is the second half of the race. Plus he c/b done developing for now.

I like the versatility of High North\'s running style. His typical energy distribution hovers right at an ideal 50% for a race of this distance.. Title Ready\'s 3 y/o improvement seems to be a function of being able to run faster early.

Two other colts are interesting to me with the potential to complicate the race. #4 Soul P Say while unlikely to be around at the finish line is almost certain to annoy Title Ready for the first 6F, imo. Trainer Milligan has removed the for sale sign and must have really liked the last outing.

But for me the money horse is the well connected #7 Ego Trip. This lightly raced colt has proven he can run the second half of a route race. Now if the colt can avoid lots of ground loss and maybe pick up 2-3 lengths early in the running then hopefully he will complete the exacta.

Whoops, I completely overlooked the presence of #5 Ike by Paynter and a Bob Baffert trainee. Hold all tickets.!

[jp702006]

I think Ike will contribute to a fast pace, not sure how far he wants to go. His dam was a sprinter in her only 2 starts. I’m going to try and get through the horizontals with just the 3,6,7.

[Mike C]

I agree also that High North has a smooth sheet,looks like he has plenty of room to continue to move forward, but from a sheet perspective, Title Ready also has a nice line, the last only 4 points off his 2 year old top, he will get position from the rail. I don\'t like to bet favorites, so I will try to beat him as well. I am using both High North and Ego Trip, and hope Title Ready gets cooked early chasing Soul P Say.

[Silver Charm]

Well done Bud. Got caught up in Kee and missed the boat. But u nailed it. Hope u crushed it

[Tavasco]

Oh Yeah!

Sweet! Very Sweet!

Nicely Done - No excuses you gave everyone plenty of notice.

[toppled]

I had a win bet & I\'m alive in all picks going forward.  I\'ll only crush it if I hit my picks, but $11.80 was a great price.

[toppled]

Thanks. He had a beautiful sheet & I can thank Mr Beyer for the $11.80.

[Tavasco]

So I saw Mr. Baffert interviewed on Expressbet and he said Ike was gonna get better in a bit. Commented that he is still kind of a baby. Yikes.

Again can\'t argue with results. Good luck in the horizontals.

[P-Dub]

Fantastic and thanks for the heads up. Parlayed that win ticket to City Of Lights. Well done Toppled.

[Mike C]

Nicely done!