Potential Derby horse....

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by RHT2004

Upon further review I have downgraded Moretti. He was the lock of the decade, now he's the lock of the year. I have upgraded Lisbon. I had him as an X. Now he's a C, he has a chance to be a well beaten non threatening 2nd to Moretti.

If your last statement turns out to be accurate, then I suppose Lisbon will be the next Lock of the Decade because that's how I would describe Moretti's performance in his debut.

Perhaps it had to do with getting kickback and being positioned along the rail, but Moretti was asked at the 3/8s pole with little response and then came under heavy pressure (even struck with the whip a few times) before the 1/4 pole and basically had no acceleration. He plugged along to collar a couple of pace factors who faded late but made absolutely no impression on the winner.

Many a Medaglia D'Oro offspring appear to be similar one-paced types, so while the 9 furlongs is probably in his wheelhouse, the penchant for losing ground or position on the turns might be a disadvantage when stretching out to two turns for this race. Considering they paid $900K a few months before it was determined that half-brother Battle of Midway was a dud at stud, Moretti may turn out to be one over-priced flop without substantial improvement.

In addition, the winner (Bourbon War) was wheeled back in the Remsen and never got a call, so going beyond this maiden event on Thursday, Moretti will be hard pressed to be considered a potential Derby horse without a massive move up.

Meanwhile, I wouldn't endorse Lisbon to any great degree anyways as there's probably a reason he was trained for the turf rather than the dirt for his debut unless his connections are completely clueless.