I don't think that much of Strong Contender, though I think he is better than you give him credit for last year.
His Haskell, which has been mentioned a few times, is a total toss. The horse had virtually NO CHANCE on that outside biased racetrack from his post position. To make matters worse, every other jockey knew it by the time the Haskell rolled around, so there was just no way to work out any kind of decent trip. I bet SC very strong in the Super Derby on this knowledge.
I'm not sure why beating a "hammerlocked" Lawyer Ron is such a bad thing. I hate when jockeys do that, but who is to say he would have run any better if let loose? He sure didn't show it in his next start.
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