Etched Thursday
 

Maybe Godolphin's best hope yet for the Derby is running in Dubai on Thursday. He certainly looked good in his two US starts. He easily bested Anak Nakal in the Nashua in both of their second starts.

Theres not much in there besides the Team Valor.

This isn't another South African horse....is it?

Better...... Uruguay

He won his first race by 7. Second start by 11, unfortunately neither of the horses that ran second or third in those races are much. He ran 3rd in his first start at NAD, beat 5. Looked like he needed it, may be a little bit better Thursday.

Honour Devil looked good a couple of weeks ago in a prep for this. The southern hemisphere colts have held the edge in the race over the years. Last year it was Asiatic Boy. The slight weight break given to the northern 3yo's doesn't seem to make much difference.
Also, Numaany is in there too. He's the nutjob that spooked and bucked in miedstretch at AQU last fall, then won for fun once (Castellano?) got him right again. He's on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAhBhKqXSVo

Don't forget, Numaany too!

Numaany hasnt been good enough to beat either in the past, maybe he has matured.

I thought him and the South African, Royal Vintage, were the only possible threats there could be to Etched. The others have just been beat too many times to believe they have that much ability.

Can't wait!

The rest of the field and form comments.....

http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/sho...t=19371&page=5

I like My Indy and Aquino too (and Siberian Tiger, but not against these three).

The first step on his road to total obscurity by the end of the year...

it looks a decent renewal to me. My Indy is a nice 2nd Godolphin horse, Aquino is rated very highly by Watson and Honour Devil coulfnt have been more impressive last time. One thing in favour for Etched is the form of his stable. Couldnt be more different from last year..

Anybody know what time this race goes off? Is it on TV-TVG or HRTV?

I think 1pm eastern.

Thanks I know that HRTV has been showing some races from dubai. They have coverage of tomorrow's races starting at 10:30 am

It's the 5th, so it might be a bit earlier.

You may be right. I feel like I read that somewhere but I don't know for sure.

I believe Etched's race is 1 pm Eastern Time. They're 9 hours ahead there.

15 minutes to post.

Anywhere to catch the race o the internet?

twinspires.com
xpressbet.com?

Disappointing

I don't have a trained horsemen's eye, but Etched seemed to be uncomfortable. The rider kept bouncing around.

Godolphin is horrendous.

Not a very good showing...oh well

Who won?

Ran a solid, even 4th.. Bit of a merry go round event...

Honour Devil

Thanks, glad to see someone went 3 for 3. All those other horses had too many losses to take seriously if they had won.

Have you ever seen a rider NOT bouncing around in Europe or anywhere else? I have seen some decent riders in Hong Kong/Japan but over the pond I have seen some comedy stuff. Shane Laviolette would win riding titles over there.

The rider seemed to be bouncing around, up, and down. Like the horse was tossing him around. But what do I know?

Over the pound it seems like those guys have zero strength in their necks, they look like bobblehead dolls. Over here, guys actually keep their necks sturdy so they can see what the hell is going on. Just an obversation

If you're thinking of making the regretable switch to Eurotrash I suggest you get the terms down.....

Across the pond.

Team Chav
Jockey Silks Burberry

he does have A BIT OF A LOOK......

I was typing fast and no, no switching here. Just commenting on the minimal euro races I have watched before.

I'm not sure how well Laviolette's 0 wins over the last 10 years on the grass would translate overseas.

Please tell me you are serious about that stat

He had to win a turf race at Indiana Downs or somewhere. He goes there with some nut Arlington turf horses to pick up a purse sometimes.

I thought the same thing. He was bumped at the start by the horse to his outside and then was pulling hard during the early part of the race and it looked like at one point that he took a funny step. He ran even from there, I really think he's a horse that wants to be out on the front end winging it setting the pace.

That Dettori kid doesn't know how to ride...