Brass Hat
 

Does anyone else love this horse and the 20/1 morning line is a big plus. How can you ignore him. Thinking the retirement of invasor made bringing him back made sense.

There's a conversation about this going on in the "Whitney" thread...I say no way he goes off at 20-1

I Like him a lot in this race.....No one really stands out so why not give him a shot.

If I get 20-1 on him tomorrow, I'll be shocked, for this horse in this field, I'll take 5-2 or higher. 20-1's outrageous. Last time I looked he broke CD's track record last out.

I don't like his chances here much at all. He will probably be bet down from 20/1 for the reasons you mention, but I believe he is a step below some of those in here.
In his last race he barely beat a mediocre Student Council and he was actually getting 4 lbs from Student Council that day. His race was also not particularly fast (despite the NTR), as can be readily seen by the fact that he barely beat those allowance horses, and received only a 98 BSF for the race.
Even in his prime in the winter of '06 he never beat anybody particularly noteworthy or posted a BSF as high as those run in the past by Papi Chullo, Fairbanks, Wanderin Boy, Sun King, or Magna Graduate.
There aren't any GREAT horses in this race....but I think most of them are better than Brass Hat. I wouldn't play him.

I'm seeing it both ways.

On one hand, we have the second place finisher of the World Cup going off at a potentially huge price. His comeback race was solid, and we know he can go faster.

On the other, does he regress a bit, and really, how good is he? Remember, Wilko finished 3rd in that Cup.

It's a tough call.

I think Brass Hat is a different, better horse than he used to be. Whether he's going to be "best" on this day, is open, but he's primed and looking awesome.

Based on what?
Do you really think his race at CD was more impressive than his back-to-back graded stakes wins in the January/February of last year? (which as I mentioned earlier, were not particularly impressive to me either). It certainly wasn't if you look at the level of competition he was facing or the speed figs for those races and compare it to that race earlier this month.
He is certainly eligible to improve 2nd off a layoff, but I would be more than a bit shocked to see him return to the form he showed in the '06 Donn. And even if he somehow does that, I don't think it will be enough.

Four in 47 last Saturday morning, five in 59 and change, but most importantly: then coming off the track looking like it was too easy.

That could very well be. We'll see!

Well he is facing a bunch of world beaters. Good luck to anyone who takes 9/2 or less in this race.

I'm rooting for him just because Willie is cool as **** and Buff seems like a pretty good guy as well. Would be nice to see some everyday dudes do the damn thing rather than the factories.

Well, I rooted the *hell* out of him, and it didn't pan out. But,,,that's okay, I still love him. I'll root for him the next time too! Something classy about him.

Suzanne