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View Poll Results: Who is your top Derby contender | |||
Essential Quality | 3 | 9.09% | |
Known Agenda | 9 | 27.27% | |
Hot Rod Charlie | 2 | 6.06% | |
Rock Your World | 7 | 21.21% | |
Super Stock | 2 | 6.06% | |
Concert Tour | 2 | 6.06% | |
Highly Motivated | 3 | 9.09% | |
Medina Spirit | 2 | 6.06% | |
Soup and Sandwich | 2 | 6.06% | |
Other | 1 | 3.03% | |
Voters: 33. You may not vote on this poll |
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#21
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Essential Quality always seems to work out a nearly perfect, untroubled trip. Can we expect that on Derby Day? I'm not so sure and it's not like his figures tower over this field to the point where I feel confident he can overcome any trouble he may run into. I love the incremental fractions that Known Agenda set in the Florida Derby but he got pretty close to a perfect trip. He did seem to lightly bump with Soup and Sandwich at the top of the stretch and then ended up in the middle of the track. (Two races back, he seemed to move inward at the top of the stretch and was so much better than the competition that he was luckily clear of the runner up. But I'm a little concerned with how his trip will work out in the Derby and how he'll negotiate that final turn.) Hot Rod Charlie controlled the pace in the LA Derby but I don't think he can do that in this race. And while he's run well coming from off the pace and seems like he could be primed to run big, I'm not sure he's going to win doing that. Highly Motivated controlled a fairly modest pace in the Blue Grass, tired down the stretch, and was finished off by Essential Quality. Normally, you could make the case that he's eligible to improve in his 3rd off the layoff but I feel like Chad Brown normally has his horses ready to run regardless of a layoff and, based on that race and his pedigree, I'm just not sure he can "get the distance." So I circle back to Rock Your World. |
#22
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Good Magic ran third in his 3YO debut, ran a similar race to Highly Motivated in the Blue Grass ( he won but he hardly beat much and if I recall correctly ran a very similar figure ), and then gave Justify a run for his money in the Derby ( and Preakness ). Isn't Highly Motivated following a similar pattern to Chad Brown's most successful Derby runner? How about Normandy Invasion? He was a mediocre second in the Wood, and then ran arguably the best race in the Derby. Isn't a better argument that Chad Brown has demonstrated a good plan for getting his Derby contenders to peak on the first Saturday in May? I'm not trying to sing the praises of Highly Motivated, who agreeably has some real distance questions, more poking realistic holes in the argument that you made.
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Just more nebulous nonsense from BBB |
#23
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#24
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#25
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