If Derma Sotogate wins he will have to overcome history in a couple of ways. No horse has ever won from the 17 post and no horse from the UAE Derby has ever even hit the board. Not sure that means much. The Derby over the years has had several taboos, if you will. I remember when it was said that Funnycide couldn't win because he was a New York bred and Street Sense because he was the BC Juvenile champion.
If there are any more scratches, don't mind that as long as they are not under the same circumstances as the last one. Painful to even think about that.
Even though Forte didn't in some respects look as good in the Florida Derby, I was impressed. He gets great extension when he gets going and hopefully the added distance will help him. On the other hand, the Florida Derby was fast early and hard to ferret out how fast this Derby will go. No pace figs on Derma S. and there don't appear to be a whole lot of others that will want to set the pace.
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