Brother Derek - Turf
 

What do you guys think? I understand he had an above average turf work.

I was wondering about that workout. I hadn't heard anything.

Here is a portion of an article regarding Derek and his work.

"Brother Derek's chances of running were enhanced by a workout this past Sunday that impressed trainer Dan Hendricks, who is deferring the final decision on running in the race to owner Cecil Pea****. Of the 44 horses who worked on Hollywood's turf course Sunday, only Brother Derek's work was termed "breezing" by the clockers, who got him going five furlongs in 1:01.40 under exercise rider Luis Ortega."

"He breezed real nice, seemed real comfortable, and wasn't aggressive at all," Hendricks said. "Luis said he felt good. We're going to enter, and we plan on running. We're going to talk it over during the week, and as long as he's 100 percent, he'll run. Mr. Pea**** wants to run."

Brother Derek is one of the few horses in SoCal that ever get a workout labeled "breezing" and he actually does it on a consistent basis. I think he's basically smart enough to do his own work.

Even if he likes the turf, I don't like his chances in the Hollywood Derby. It's going to be a very tough field. I think that Showing Up will be very hard to beat. In addition to Showing Up, I was very impressed with the European horse that won the Oak Tree Derby. I would make Brother Derek the third choice at best.

His pedigree does not suggest he will like the grass but he is a very classy horse and with his early speed he could take out Showing Up if he is a little rank early, a real possibility considering he is coming off a 7 week layoff. Showing Up has done well off a layoff before though so it probably will not be a problem.

The Ireland bred Dark Islander is my choice here. I am a huge fan of his sire Singspiel. He should get a nice pace to run at. A hard california turf might just be too tough to close into though.

Dark Islander is the horse I was talking about that won the Oak Tree Derby. I couldn't think of his name.

LOVE this horse.

I think we'll see a big run from Ivan Denisovich....