not sure who the top group would be right now.
but the oaklawn to kentucky trail works rather well -i think due to the two surfaces being very much alike. it's got to be a benefit to the horses to have some continuity in that regard.

easy to root for him, knowing he won't be whisked away any time in the near future.

Sierra Sunset is from Cali. He couldn't do anything against those horses out there.

However, it does look like he is getting better, and the Oaklawn route is usually my favorite. I like the spacing of the races, and I just like Oaklawn. Plus, it didn't hurt that Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, and Curlin went through that way. It has been my favorite route to the derby.

King's Silver Son is one I'm going to be watching closely next out.

umm. . . poly

that's right. may not be the horses out there, but the surface. it's not dirt, people need to quit treating it as such-results on one track won't necessarily translate to other surfaces.

Sierra Sunset isn't that good of a horse IMO. Z Fortune didn't run his race, and Golden Yank was coming off a layoff. I don't think Sierra Sunset's improvement has much to do with the change in the surface because I think he has improved just a little bit so far. I think that it looks like he has improved more than he actually has because he is running against horses of much lesser quality.

Nothing from this race will do anything in the Derby except for maybe one because of his closing run IMO. I'll listen to Coach Pants on this one.

That's fine...

The problem than becomes....what about his return race?

I made a decent little score today by backwheeling King's Silver Son in 2nd in the exacta with Sierra Sunset and Z Fortune (the only two who looked like they could possibly win)

Personally, I felt that King's Silver Son was only the 7th or 8th best horse on paper going into that race - but that he would get a dream setup - and that he was 100% likely to fire.

In my opinion, today was the day for KSS - it was the day for a once in a lifetime trip and setup - with all the stars lined up for him. I would avoid him in a big way next time out....he's just not very good and he will never have a more favorable setup than he had today.

He will have the same trip in the Arkansas Derby if he goes and a half panel to boot.

There aren't exactly any world beaters in the southwest this year and this one is thought highly of by the assman.

"He's had some fever this week, and we thought he'd be OK, but obviously it wasn't his day," LaPenta revealed. "Hopefully, he's OK. Nick is with him now, and we'll find out a little more later."

do you know this because of your Mexican heritage?

Yes. It's ezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

He won't - because there is no way in the world that Sacred Journey will be back to run off early and set the kind of supersonic strong pace that he needs to set up his plodding run.

Unless another horse shows up and tries to pull a Silence Suzuka - I think he will revert to his old very, very, very slow figure self.

Pretty sure Pyro won his last two and didn't run last at 1/9.

I'm not saying we should write War Pass off as a rat, but jeez, he didn't break well, he didn't like the track, he was sick, he didn't like rating, the sun was in his eyes.. It ain't like he didn't run a step. He looked to be in great position to win, then hit the brakes..

Great position for a horse whos a confirmed front runner is on the lead. At no point in time during the TBD was War Pass in great position for his running style.

I could tell in the Belmont a few years ago that War Emblem was having a panic attack on the backstretch because he was behind horses. For those of you who don't recall, WE was free-running sort who wanted to run on the front-end and went to his knees at the start. Rider chose not to gun him up to the lead (suicide in most races, and this was 12f), but the horse could not mentally handle not being on the lead.

I was kidding.

Ah, the problem of trying to digest a 7-page topic in one gulp -subtlety in lost.