2006 3 Year Olds Vs 2007 3 Year Olds

[lemoncrush]

I think the west coast horses have been fairly weak so far this year, compared to previous.
Especially if EZ warrior turns out to be just a sprinter. I'm not a huge fan of Stormello, Principle Secret, Notional, etc...
Great hunter looks OK, and I doubt Horse Greeley will come back to make an impact.
I think Exhale could be the best of the bunch. What happened to Dilemma? And even though Les Grand Trois broke his maiden at Belmont, he's working in California and he could be better than all of them.

Overall, I think we'll have some good ones come May, though.
CQ, Any Given Saturday, Nobiz, Street Sense and maybe Came To Pass, Daypass, etc..

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Exhale is simply the most talented of the bunch on the west coast....however, everyone just seems to concede he will improve stretching out based solely on the name of his stallion and damsire.

This gem about him in the Derby Trail piece on the Bloodhorse site speaks to what the position is that everyone wants to take on him: "A son of Millennium Wind out of a Manila mare, his pedigree says he’ll stretch out with no problem."

Fact is, his mother, Manilla Rose, has produced three foals, all of them winners, two of which proven graded stake type horses. Those three foals have racked up a 0-for-15 record in dirt route races!

The best of which, mud-lark Private Horde (by Whitney Handicap winner Brunswick) won 8 stake races sprinting in his career. However, he was a mediocre 7-0-2-1 in dirt route races.

This horse worked 21 2/5ths on the first preview of the Fasig Tipton FEB select sale (AKA: The Green Monkey sale)--without blinkers. That was the fastest work at the distance, by any unblinkered horse, that day.

http://fasigtipton.sitespace.com/videos/156.wmv

After that sales showing, he starts his career with back-to-back triple digit Beyer performances sprinting. Very impressive...but not exactly positives, when you talk about a horse seeing out 10 furlongs in a little more than three months.

I'm VERY impressed with this horse--however, there is no real evidence to substaniate these claims that he will improve routing. His prospects of seeing out 10 furlongs in 100 or so days, they don't look that good to me.

Stormello, on the other hand, looks, at best, to be no more than a slightly worse version of Brother Derek. He has no chance at winning the Derby.

[ManilaRose]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Exhale is simply the most talented of the bunch on the west coast....however, everyone just seems to concede he will improve stretching out based solely on the name of his stallion and damsire.

This gem about him in the Derby Trail piece on the Bloodhorse site speaks to what the position is that everyone wants to take on him: "A son of Millennium Wind out of a Manila mare, his pedigree says he’ll stretch out with no problem."

Fact is, his mother, Manilla Rose, has produced three foals, all of them winners, two of which proven graded stake type horses. Those three foals have racked up a 0-for-15 record in dirt route races!

The best of which, mud-lark Private Horde (by Whitney Handicap winner Brunswick) won 8 stake races sprinting in his career. However, he was a mediocre 7-0-2-1 in dirt route races.

This horse worked 21 2/5ths on the first preview of the Fasig Tipton FEB select sale (AKA: The Green Monkey sale)--without blinkers. That was the fastest work at the distance, by any unblinkered horse, that day.

http://fasigtipton.sitespace.com/videos/156.wmv

After that sales showing, he starts his career with back-to-back triple digit Beyer performances sprinting. Very impressive...but not exactly positives, when you talk about a horse seeing out 10 furlongs in a little more than three months.

I'm VERY impressed with this horse--however, there is no real evidence to substaniate these claims that he will improve routing. His prospects of seeing out 10 furlongs in 100 or so days, they don't look that good to me.

Stormello, on the other hand, looks, at best, to be no more than a slightly worse version of Brother Derek. He has no chance at winning the Derby.

I agree with you DRUGS. With my name on here being Manila Rose I am obviously familiar with the mare and her previous runners. Private Horde seemed to have router all over him as much ground as he covered and being over 17 hands, however he couldn't go over a mile and wasn't nearly as effective at a mile as at 7F or less. Exhale's 1/2 sis was no good routing on dirt but it wasn't due to distance limitations. She was Repriced(Roberto) on top and Manila on bottom and couldn't run a bit off of the turf. On the turf she could get 1 1/8 without much problem. Exhale's 2nd dam is Golden Horde, a GI winning sprinter and both Private Horde and Pricearose were very quick as Exhale seems to be. I like his chances of stretching out due to the way he travels and the way he settled in behind a few horses without any problem in his last start as opposed to liking his chances simply because of his pedigree , but like you I don't believe it's such a forgone conclusion.