Quote:
Originally Posted by Danzig
even after his last? left me with some doubts.
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There are reasons to like and dislike Union Rags. The fact that he only has one rather easy victory against a weak field then the Florida Derby as a 3YO is a bit frustrating. The Fountain of Youth had a soft field, featured a distance-challenged Pletcher trainee who rode a dead rail, and it ended with him beating a total bum in News Pending.
Leparoux gave Union Rags no chance to win the Florida Derby. Somehow it has been forgotten that Union Rags won the Saratoga Special in wire-to-wire fashion last year. Leparoux rode him as if he is a one-paced plug who needs race dynamics to go his way. This came one race after he let him run a little bit early, and the result was a handy win.
Even if Leparoux did hurt Union Rags' chances, there wasn't enough about his Fla Derby effort to make you stay very confident in him. The latest round of preps certainly made the odds on contenders drop, and that will help Union Rags' odds. However, if you're betting him, you are hoping that he will be able to negotiate the traffic from behind a fast pace, because Leparoux will allow him to meander through the opening half-mile, as he does nearly every horse he rides.