PREP FIELDS: An FYI thread..
 

Seems to be a constant and evolving question, so here are the fields as they appear currently and I will keep updating the revisions:


4/28 -- WITHERS:

Street Magician
Blue Bullet
Brisco n Logan
C P West
Elusive Warning
Frosty Secret

Possible:
Cherokee Country
Sir Whimsey


4/21 -- LEXINGTON:

1 Slew's Tizzy
2 Trust Your Luck
3 Forty Grams
4 Trust Your Luck


4/21 -- FEDERICO TESIO:

1 Xchanger
2 Pink Viper
3 Zephyr Cat


4/14 -- ARKANSAS DERBY:

1. Curlin
2. Storm in May
3. Deadly Dealer
4. Delightful Kiss


4/14 -- BLUE GRASS:

1. Dominican
2. Street Sense
3. Zanjero
4. Teuflesberg


4/7 -- SANTA ANITA DERBY:

1. Tiago
2. King of the Roxy
3. Sam P.
4. Liquidity


4/7 -- WOOD MEMORIAL:

1. Nobiz Like Shobiz
2. Sightseeing
3. Any Given Saturday
4. Summer Doldrums


4/7 -- ILLINOIS DERBY:

1. Cowtown Cat
2. Reporting for Duty
3. Bold Start
4. Sacrifice Bunt


3/31 -- FLORIDA DERBY:

1. Scat Daddy
2. Notional
3. Chelokee
4. Stormello

Thanks alot for this Steve!

That Santa Anita Derby looks awful.

Thanks for posting this, Steve... helps a lot.

Funny thing. You never hear of any one actually pointing a horse for the Illinois Derby. Has any trainer ever said "Yeah, we'll go from the Swale to the Gotham to the Illinois Derby..." Nope. It's like a last ditch stop to a big payday for someone yet Sweetnorthernsaint and Greeley's Galaxy both took alot of $$$ in the big dance in KY.

Is Ketchikan definitely going to the Arkansas Derby rather than the Blue Grass? It would be great if that was the case. Last I saw they were waiting as long as possible to make a decision.

Yeah, they did, but if I recall, wasn't 2001 the first year the Illinois Derby was used for a Derby prep? I think it used to be run in between the Derby and the Preakness.

That trainer for Cowtown Cat has been pointing to it.

Al Stall was a surprise visitor to the show the other day and said he's leaning towards the Arky..

Cool, that would be great. I'd hate to see Ketchikan run third on the poly and miss the Derby. If he can't run top two in Arkansas then he doesn't belong anyways but I think he will put up a huge performance there.

He is now, but in Jan. he didn't propose the Swale to the Gotham to the Ill. Derby. Until last week when Cobalt Blue's connections mentioned it, I'd forgotten it existed.

As Dick Vitale would say, the next three weeks are "prime time baby" as far as the derby trail goes.

For a change the Bluegrass looks real relavent this year.

It's irrelevantly relevant though. Tons of the top horses are there but can you really conclude if Great Hunter beats Street Sense on poly again that he's going to do better than him when they get back to Churchill?

War Emblem did okay coming out of his Illinois Derby romp.

i heard Hard Spun might "pull a barbaro" and train right up to the Ky Derby. He has plenty of graded earnings and the BG is shaping up as the toughest prep. i think that is a good idea. the winner of that race will have probably exerted ALOT and will take alot out of him. why risk it.

Wouldn't that be more "pulling a Birdstone"? Barbaro went from the Florida Derby so it was only five weeks off.

I think that it would be a mistake. I think that the sheets guys have brainwashed people to the extent that they are making decisions that are crazy. This horse has run in how many "tough" preps? Insane. But I guess only one guy is going to be right and most of the battle is actually getting there.

Do you think Notional can hang with the big-tymers in Florida? I hope he gets a hard-trying 3rd so you can get some Derby Value on him...

Who would be considered a big-timer in the FL Derby field ? Not exactly the most accomplished bunch with the exception of Scat Daddy.

Stormello. The race could set up in his favor, especially if he does not go so fast early on as he did in his last start. Also, Scat Daddy may not have gotten by this horse if Stormello wouldn't have been on the rail and had both Adore the Gold and Nobiz Like Shobiz inbetween himself and Scat Daddy. I don't think he ever saw Scat Daddy, and this horse is as game as they come. I don't like his chances at all for the Kentucky Derby though with his running style. He most likely has distance limitations as well.

I think that this is Notional's race to lose.

thats what they said two years ago!

Forget the poly, even if they ran the Bluegrass on dirt at Churchill Downs and Great Hunter beat Street Sense, you couldn't automatically conclude that Street Sense wouldn't come back and win at Churchill downs in a month, there are many more factors than just the surface.

I always make this comment about the Lexington. Its a race that no one that is mapping out a derby program for a horse talks about using as a prep. If your horse is running in the Lexington that means that something went wrong along the way, timing related, or missing training, etc. Otherwise its used as a last ditch effort to catch a few necessary dollars to make the derby field.
I don't think anyone originally point towards this race.

Let's be fair. You could probably run that Derby from 2 years ago 100 times and Giacomo would lose 99. He got the trip of his life that day.

sure does.

what's the word on ez warrior? is he pointing anywhere, or he's not derby bound at all??

That's one ambitious schedule for Cowtown Cat.

the Illinois Derby is a way to either duck the big boys, or if your Pletcher or O'neil, a place to send a horse so you don't have to knock heads with another one of your contenders.

The Santa Anita derby does look awful right now. I read Tiago is pointing there as well, but it sure doesn't make that field look any better. I wonder if Rags to Riches is dealing with some minor issue, as I think she would have a great shot against that field.

It is amazing what a year does. And Barbaro. The time off looks good now. Ahhh the tide will certainly swing again. I remember everyone pounding GP for changing the date making the Bluegrass an irrelevant prep. That is what happened, correct?

Hal's My Hope is out of the Florida Derby.....

He's coughing.

Illinois Derby
 

Cowchip Cat now IL Derby 'confirmed'...

Updated..
 

Several changes/additions to the Prep fields over the weekend..

Delightful Kiss to the AK Derby..

Flashstorm to the Wood..

Summer Doldrums to Wood or IL Derby..

more.. See 1st post..

Oh how I love the Alaska Derby!!!

looks like Sightseeing is unlikely for the Wood.


per NYRA.com :

"Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said this morning the Phipps Stable’s Sightseeing is a “longshot to run” in the 83rd running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial April 7th.

“I’m not really planning on running him there,” McGaughey said. “We would consider it more if the race fell apart.”

Sightseeing, who hit the board in a pair of allowance races at Gulfstream this winter, is likely to work either Sunday or Monday morning at Belmont Park.

Without Sightseeing, the Wood Memorial field stands at five with Circular Quay, Nobiz Like Shobiz, Reptilian Smarts and Flashstrom confirmed and Summer Doldrums likely to race here instead of the Illinois Derby."

It is my favorite as well!

You know who would have been a natural in the Alaska Derby???

Fairbanks..

Good Lord, . . . certainly no more that 1 rattle.

I'm with ya there, but I know as well as anyone that you gotta go out on a limb sometimes trying to be funny :)

I liked it.. Though I guess you think I was skating on thin 'tundra' with that one... :rolleyes:

Or racing on it...

It WAS GOOD, maybe 2 1/2 rattles. (insert one of those winky face things)