His time for the 8.5 furlongs was 1:44.57. The other race run at that distance at GG yesterday was won by a rather average n2x horse entered for a tag in 1:44.18 (and that one was carrying more weight than Yankee Bravo). That one - like Yankee Bravo - came from well off the pace. In fact, four out of the five route races there yesterday ended with the frontrunners completely falling apart and horses that were well back early winning.
It was a pretty good dirt debut to be sure. He had an outside post, ran into some traffic on the second turn, and overcame that to put in a pretty nice stretch run. Given that this was his first dirt start, he might be eligible for more improvement down the road, but based on that performance, I certainly do NOT see him as a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender.
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