Quote:
Originally Posted by cal828
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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I suggest that Derma Sotogake might have one more obstacle to overcome. In the UAE Derby he was very comfortable setting and controlling the pace. I don't know if that has been his running style in his other races, but if he wants to be on or near the lead, Lemaire will need to use him a lot to establish a lead position from post 17. He is a world class rider who knows his horse, so it will be interesting to see how he handles this issue.