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Originally Posted by King Glorious
Santa Anita.
As a 2yo, I would not run him beyond 6f at all but I'd run him often, maybe 6-8 times.
As a 3yo, assuming he progressed with each start and showed me enough to continue on with him, I'd go (according to the 2006 racing dates):
San Miguel-6f Jan 8 at Santa Anita
San Vicente-7f Feb 12 at Santa Anita
Swale-7f Mar 4 at Gulfstream
Private Terms-8f Mar 25 at Laurel
Derby Trial-8f Apr 29 at Churchill
In my opinion, five races is enough to get a horse plenty fit for the Derby. Also, I'm not a big believer in a horse having to go 9f first to see if he can go 10f. If he can't show me enough in two tries at 8f to convince me that he can go further, I need to back up at that point. I personally feel that any trainer worth his weight in salt should be able to tell if a horse can go 10f off of two 8f races. A lot of people these days feel that it's not good to have a horse run that close to another race but it seemed to do ok for Don't Get Mad a couple of years ago when he ended up fourth in the Derby after running in the Derby trial. It also worked well for plenty of horses back in the day and I don't know of any reason why it couldn't still work. I think it's good to get in a good 8f work prior to a race and with the horse having been off for a month prior to that, it would be a good spot to take some of the edge off yet keep him sharp while getting paid for it should he finish in the money.
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You wouldn't earn enough graded stake money to get in the gate with that schedule, unless you won all 3 of the SM, SV, and Swale.
The Private Terms (a 1 turn mile) hasn't produced a realistic starter for the Derby, ever, if I remember correctly all of the runners that have run in it. On top of that, I can't think of a SINGLE runner to hit the board in the Derby without a prep at two turns.
Sorry KG, but you're wayyyyy off base.