Thoughts on Chitu?

[dballard125]

In my opinion, his Sunland Derby performance was quite impressive. He broke from the 9 hole (far outside), worked his way up to rate right off of the leader with 23 & 46 fractions, dueled Midnight Hawk in the stretch, and pulled away in the final furlong to win with a time of 1:47.88. That final time was only .36 slower than California Chrome's Santa Anita victory. Now obviously the competition in the Sunland doesn't stack up to the G1 preps, but it's hard to dispute the time he ran.

Just curious what everyone thinks of his chances in the KD? He appears to certainly have the running style to be right in the mix down the stretch, and with a decent trip and a little luck on his side, who knows. One concern is can he get the distance, but he appears to have some decent stamina on his dam's side. He also galloped out well in the Sunland, so maybe the 1 1/4 mile won't be an issue.

Obviously post position for any of these horses is huge, and although I think Chrome is the class of this race, I'm looking for a live long shot to Place or Show...or even pull off a win. I'm thinking Chitu could be that horse.

What's your all's thoughts?