No, Giant Moon actually has some ability.

what about the 8th the toboggn

sir greeley ?think santana throws a clunker

LA Derby
Yankee Bravo

Gotham Stakes
Visionaire

Have to go over the Gotham a bit more before I make a final decision.

I think you might want to over the LA Derby some more too if you somehow came up with Yankee Bravo. He seems VERY unlikely to me in this race.

I wouldn't bet this race under any cirumstances, but he seems the most likely winner to me. There just aren't any good 2-turn horses in the race.

Roman Emperor is sort of logical also.

It is not a compelling field.

LA Derby

My Pal Charlie looks interesting. This will definately be his toughest test (by far), but he has won the last 2 around 2 turns and looks to be moving up the scale form-wise. 20/1 ML doens't hurt matters, either.

Can't play Yankee Bravo. First start on a traditional dirt surface against this field doesn't turn me on.

J Be K is intriging, but I'll stay away. The "1st time around 2 turns" angle ranks high in my book. If he beats me, then he beats me.

I really wish Tale Of Ekati and Majestic Warrior had one race before this one.

I'll box Pyro and My Pal Charlie in the exacta.

Yeah, both of the horses that finished behind Barrier Reef in the Whirlaway (Roman Emperor and Texas Wildcatter) seem to be improving. Their BSFs have been steadily increasing, and I guess either of them could potentially take another step forward here and win this race, although I agree that Roman Emperor is the more likely of the two.
I guess there potentially could be some value in one of those two colts, but at the moment I am still leaning toward skipping this race.

The risen star was a "HORRIBLE race", therefore i refuse to watch Visionaire and Unbridled Vicar and Blackberry Road in the stretch run.

I will instead take the public's and linesmaker's and chart trouble line's opinion... that Blackberry Road was oh so victimized by the trip and is a real derby contender, and that Unbrided Vicar is a washed up 20-1 shot with no kick who "needs to close", and that Visionaire "enjoyed" a dream trip along that "live" rail & is another with no late kick, not to mention he is no where near the calibre' of say a Spanky Fischerbein.

I'll test the Tomlinson wet track ratings in the Gotham with my selection of Ling Ling Qi

Fairgrounds turf is Yielding and I'll look back at those races

General Dan another longshot for me in the El Camino Real

Am I the only one who thinks Giant Moon is off the board in this one?

mildly leaning towards Roman Emperor or Saratoga Russell.

I can see Roman Emperor winning this. Texas Wildcatter is interesting to me as well. He's been working lights out and looked to finish strong in his two previous starts at this distance.

My sentimental horse is Larry's Revenge. I hope he likes the slop. :eek:

I'm with you. I think the two you mentioned along with Texas Wildcatter and Ling Ling Qi should all be well ahead of him.

He certainly could be.
This is a classic,"who stinks less" race.

I like Saratoga Russell over Giant Moon. Box them.

I like J Be K to beat Pyro hopefully with Tale of Ekati and Majestic Warrior bringing up the rear. Actually, my dream scenario would have Pyro finishing last but there isn't enough in this field to make that happen.

Brilliant will be my Yielding track play in the Muniz

King Of The Roxy in the Kenner

Boxing Stylish Wildcat/IronLips in the Bienville

J Be K in the Derby

I don't know what you guys like about Saratoga Russell here.
This kind of 2.5f stretchout from a horse with his sire and running style, from a barn with fairly poor sprint-to-route numbers, seems like a bad play to me.

But then again, this race is fairly wide open, so who knows.

the big 3
saratoga russel has a slugger's chance to run away with it,-especially with an off track,
and Visionaire is a better animal than Moon, but you have to think that Dominguez will sit a nice forwardly placed trip with Giant Moon.
Moon can be beat here but should be somewhat competitive.

chinese scenarios
Maragh has an important horse in Ling li Qi or whatever... - Maragh has enough tactical speed to match strides early with moon if he so chooses (behind Saratoga Russel) and that could really make things tough on moon.

more BS
Although it is just as likely that Moon breaks running and forces Saratoga Russel to work very hard to clear, and Maragh rides tenatively on Ling Ling. Can Visionaire come and get him? Even on the off track?? How much is the wide post going to comprimise Lezcano???

love the madonna song
Pletcher has three horses here, and none of them look all that amazing, but any 1/3 could have a chance to compete for some purse $$. Holidaze is a pretty good animal, but is a headcase who is afraid to run inside of horses, and STILL doesn't get blinkers AND gets the Mike Luzzi who has the reputation of not being the best in overcoming a weakness. If Holidaze lucks into a good trip and an outside run, he could easily run 2nd or 3rd.


the lowdown
from a betting standpoint I want Moon or Russell to run away with it and get a fairly high beyer. I will beat them next time and just enjoy watching the race today.

Mainly the off track and lack of quality horses here.

That's it for me. If there were any good horses in here, I would look against him but there aren't.