Mastery Looked Awesome but. . . out of TC

[JolyB]

What's going on this Derby Prep season? Every time a horse gets close to the top of a Derby contenders list, something has happened to push him off.

Classic Empire has had all sorts of issues beginning with the Holy Bull. Irish War Cry jumped onto the list as a result of his Holy Bull, only to put in a baffling bad performance in the FOY. El Areeb had a number of fans until a poor performance in the Gotham. McCraken looked like the real thing after the Sam Davis, only to have physical issues cause him to miss the Tampa Bay Derby and leave him with only one remaining prep if his ankle is sound. Mastery and Gormley had moved up the list by default, and Mastery looked like a real racehorse today, only to suffer a condylar fracture. Gormley was very disappointing today.

With no McCracken to contend with, Tapwrit made a very impressive winning move in the Tampa Bay Derby, and Gunnevara is clearly developing very nicely. After those, the list of defectors seems to me longer than the list of contenders.