Eskendereya skipping FL Derby, prefering Wood
 

Per Haskin via Zayat. Big plus for the Big A...

I guess that means Rule will probably go favorite.

That will literally rescue the Big A, which was staring at a watered down version of the Gotham in the Wood.

NT

Im sad. I guess I have to bet Letenor and Cams horse now on Saturday. What are my alternatives? Ice Box?

That Dutrow article in the DRF scared them off.

Radiohead is likely up the track, career top back on 3 weeks.....
Not my style.

It don't matter when the Babe is calling the shots....no pun intended.

Baffert on Lookin at Lucky's last important work before the Rebel: "I was training him from the Four Seasons at Whistler."

i don't know , i thought awesome act looked pretty good in there too.

Awesome Act had problems shipping over because of the snow storm the week before. So if if the race was sub par he ran a pretty good race considering the difficulty of getting him here.

Eskendereya seemed to put it all together in the FOY. The Wood seems like a good final prep for him as it gives him 4 weeks going into the Derby. These have not been the best of times for New York racing and it's a great to see one of the stars of the 3 year division running here in NY.

He had a nice pace setup - but yeah... he did run what passes as a respectable figure in this crop and like you mention maybe shipping problems could have possibly had a very slight negative impact on him.

I don't know though ... freaking Nacho Friend - first off of a 7+ month layoff and first time beyond 6 furlongs sits just 3 lengths off that strong pace - makes first run while 4 wide the whole way around the turn ... and he still has enough left to finish 3rd beaten just 3 lengths.

The 5th place finisher in the race was beaten less than 5 lengths - and he had never won on dirt before and was beaten back to back in NY Bred N1X alw races.

I need to see one more from Awesome Act to get a better gauge.

I dont get it Doug? Everyone liked Nacho Friend... EVERYONE...Stve, Andy and Brian all touted him. He had to have something going for him, why cant Nacho Friend be pretty good and move forward next out, and Awesome Act is simply really good?

Don't bet the race, is always one of my favorite alternatives.

With Dutrow running Funnybone here, the pace should be hot... Im going to give Soaring Empire a long look.

Awesome Act needs to improve but I don't think he needs to improve that much. All your points are valid and I guess we'll find out a bit more about him and the rest of this crop in the next few weeks.

I'm surprised. He loves this track. Good for NY and AQ, so I'm glad he's coming but I do not like Rule in this spot.

I agree, I dont want Rule... He can win at 8-5, whatever. Maybe he sits the trip off Funnybone, who knows?

Is D'Funnybone running in the Swale or the FL Derby?

I guess they would prefer four weeks between his last prep as opposed to six.

Dutrow told Grening that if he knew Eskenderaya wasn't running that he would send D'Funnybone in the FL Derby.

I can understand how people might want Nacho Friend back. But Leparoux moved much too soon on Awesome Act and still handled the perfect tripping Yawanna Twist relatively easily. Now, YT is clearly not much horse but for AA to win the way he did in a race that just screamed last move does say something.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111485.html

So much for Zito taking the conservative route. Sigh - Indomitable, you got your wish. I hate this move, but whatever.

Understood except from the article it sounds more like its Zayat's call than Pletcher's, i.e. I'm not sure Pletcher wanted to do it this way.

Let's ask Fifth Third Bank what they think.

If D'Funnybone goes to the FLA Derby ....

I have to think the connections of A Little Warm have to be very tempted to abort the LA Derby stretch out and go in the Swale instead.

Hard to pass up being heavily favored in a Grade 2 stakes race with a probable small field.

I agree in general.

Nacho Friend obviously ran well, and clearly better than the second horse, but Awesome Act beat him by enough that it will be a hard gap to reasonably expect him to close. Plus, I find it hard to believe longer distances won't favor the winner...at least over Nacho Friend.

Nacho Friend strikes me as the kind of horse that will be running in too many races that he can't win.

I expect Conveyance to dust him out West.

Any other 3:5 shots you like?

Oh Andy, I didn't say I'd bet it.....I just think that's a long trip to be drilled.

He was conservative in that he opted to stay at Gulfstream and run in what is no more than a very tough alw quality race with Grade 1 status attached to it.

I might have looked for an even easier Graded Stakes spot.. and would have no problem shipping a young lightly raced horse God knows where.

If D'Funnybone and A Little Warm both are lured away from the Swale ... and it appears I'd go post as a favorite in a Grade 2 ... I might cut him back to 7f and run there and depending on how he performed go either Derby Trial/Preakness or Lexington/Derby

Tom Albertrani just said on ATR that another option for Odysseus is the Street Sense approach to Derby via the Blue Grass. He said while he isn't a fan of racing on synthetics, the benefit is a single ship to Kentucky rather than one to NY for Wood and then a second one to KY for Derby.

The way things are going they will all be six weeks soon.

That's fair that the FLA Derby is now coming up a glorified allowance race (albeit with some promising horses), but I don't know that Nick knew that before he made the decision. He's now started on the road where, if the colt runs well, he has to run him in the Derby - and he'll have had all of 3 starts. Maybe he thinks the colt is doing very well right now - he did just breeze a half in 47 recently - but I think I like your plan better.

considering the crop thus far, i don't see a reason for nick to be bashful about running his lightly raced colt against anyone.

I think there's a little BS involved about how "rushing" a young horse into facing "Grade 1" competiton is a recipe for ruining them.

Look at last years 3yo champion Summer Bird. He was 4th in a 6f MSW race at Oaklawn March 1st.

His 2nd career start didn't come till March 19th - when he broke his maiden. From there he ran in what would now be 7 straight Grade 1 Stakes race.

3rd career start in Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby, Belmont, Haskell, Travers, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Breeders Cup Classic.

Graded stakes money? He's at $180k, but is that a lock to make the field? If he bombs on the poly (certainly a possibility), then what?

Street Sense was obviously the leading money earner going into that race so the money meant nothing.

i think so too. i think you ruin a horse by not having him fit enough for a tough race, not by running him vs his peers.

$180k should be plenty. With situations like Lookin at Lucky, Nobles Promise and Dublin glomming the big gelt at Oaklawn, I don't get a sense there are going to be tons of leapfroggers.

$100,000 got you in last year.

FL Derby
 

The schmucky decisions at Florida's premier track never cease to amaze us. Here's what ya get for moving it 6 weeks prior to Louisville.

"Where's ya head at....where's ya head at?"

Good point.
And 2nds at Sunland and FG are worth $160k and $150k respectively, so those finishers would need more. For some reason I was thinking $200k was last year's hurdle.

Speaking of Tim Ice, I wonder if he'll try the same stunt this year with the good looking Rock Hard Ten colt, New Madrid, who broke his maiden in his 3rd start (after a runner up try and a "gimme" effort in a sprint for D. Wayne Lukas) on Saturday at Oaklawn.

He's out of a 1/2 sister to Cigar IIRC and owned by Shortleaf Stable (formerly Loblloly of Pine Bluff, Priarie Bayou fame).