Derby Thoughts - Animal Kingdom going forward; Mo

[Travis Stone]

Andy and Eric said on Talking Horses today that this is the type of year where the Triple Crown might be easier versus a year with a more top-heavy/competitive group and I agree.

I'm not saying Animal Kingdom can or will win the Triple Crown, but it's hard to argue with his effort today. Slow pace and all, he won fair and square. What happens if he gets pace? Plus, happy for Graham Motion, who is definitely one of the good guys in racing.

Nehro ran big, he'll be useful down the road too.

And what if - big what if - Uncle Mo were at his best today? Slow pace, tracking it, if not setting it... it's hard to imagine he doesn't open-up in the stretch, and then it's a matter of whether or not gets there first.

For a Derby trail that was frustrating and disappointing, it turned out okay today... but I do hope in the years to come we can return to triple digit preps and performances throughout the early spring.

[VOL JACK]

HUH?

Bobby Flay was on VS saying that Soldat was gonna win the Triple Crown.

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by VOL JACK

HUH?

Bobby Flay was on VS saying that Soldat was gonna win the Triple Crown.

..... interesting. I actually missed it, but was told by two people he picked Animal Kingdom???? I edited the line out...

[VOL JACK]

He was perfectly clear on VS..
"Soldat will win the Triple Crown"

He obviously a Thoro-Graph guy..they liked Soldat going in.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by VOL JACK

He was perfectly clear on VS..
"Soldat will win the Triple Crown"

He obviously a Thoro-Graph guy..they liked Soldat going in.

He is... they recommended the purchase of Her Smile to him 2 weeks ago. I talked to him about it on Wednesday.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by philcski

He is... they recommended the purchase of Her Smile to him 2 weeks ago. I talked to him about it on Wednesday.

Is your new job Professional Name Dropper?

[Sightseek]

I think the jockey situation will (sadly) be talked about more than the horse.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

Bobby Flay loved him today.

Andy and Eric said on Talking Horses today that this is the type of year where the Triple Crown might be easier versus a year with a more top-heavy/competitive group and I agree.

I'm not saying Animal Kingdom can or will win the Triple Crown, but it's hard to argue with his effort today. Slow pace and all, he won fair and square. What happens if he gets pace? Plus, happy for Graham Motion, who is definitely one of the good guys in racing.

Nehro ran big, he'll be useful down the road too.

And what if - big what if - Uncle Mo were at his best today? Slow pace, tracking it, if not setting it... it's hard to imagine he doesn't open-up in the stretch, and then it's a matter of whether or not gets there first.

For a Derby trail that was frustrating and disappointing, it turned out okay today... but I do hope in the years to come we can return to triple digit preps and performances throughout the early spring.

With the scratch of Uncle Mo, we were left with 1 horse in the field that had run a triple digit beyer (Soldat) and 3 horses that had never run a beyer in the 90's. Happy to see JV get his first Derby win and even happier to see a guy like Motion get his Derby win as well, but it was a race filled with some pretty unimpressive horses.

As an aside, the scratch of Little Mike in the Woodford proved huge for the Get Stormy connections. Was glad to see Ramon win that race.

[JJP]

I'm not sure the pace was that slow. The track has been deep lately and we've seen a lot of slow fractions in the route races. According to the chart, there still was a number of horses at least a dozen lengths out; Dialed In was over 17 lengths off the pace. If the pace really was that slow, they all would've been within 7-8 lengths of the leader.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by GPK

With the scratch of Uncle Mo, we were left with 1 horse in the field that had run a triple digit beyer (Soldat) and 3 horses that had never run a beyer in the 90's. Happy to see JV get his first Derby win and even happier to see a guy like Motion get his Derby win as well, but it was a race filled with some pretty unimpressive horses.

As an aside, the scratch of Little Mike in the Woodford proved huge for the Get Stormy connections. Was glad to see Ramon win that race.

Killled me in the Oaks/Woodford/Derby P3... hope you had GS in the double, Kev.... Singled GS in the DD after the scratch

[paulo537]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

Andy and Eric said on Talking Horses today that this is the type of year where the Triple Crown might be easier versus a year with a more top-heavy/competitive group and I agree.

I'm not saying Animal Kingdom can or will win the Triple Crown, but it's hard to argue with his effort today. Slow pace and all, he won fair and square. What happens if he gets pace? Plus, happy for Graham Motion, who is definitely one of the good guys in racing.

Nehro ran big, he'll be useful down the road too.

And what if - big what if - Uncle Mo were at his best today? Slow pace, tracking it, if not setting it... it's hard to imagine he doesn't open-up in the stretch, and then it's a matter of whether or not gets there first.

For a Derby trail that was frustrating and disappointing, it turned out okay today... but I do hope in the years to come we can return to triple digit preps and performances throughout the early spring.

Great and interesting Derby to me.

- Weather
- Track condition
- Record attendance
- Winner last prepped at Turfway
- Winner never ran on dirt
- Jock/Trainer/Owner get first win
- Fairly clean race without huge excuses. Maybe Nehro moved too soon.

I'd be surprised if we see Uncle Mo anytime soon, if ever. I also think Dialed In will be off a while. His race and work schedule certainly were not very encouraging. He has the look of a colt with some issue they managed best they could.

I don't care much about triple digit figures in preps. What do they mean? Good horses can come from anywhere.

I just wish Brilliant Speed had run at least a little bit.

[Mawhip]

Originally Posted by paulo537

Great and interesting Derby to me.

- Weather
- Track condition
- Record attendance
- Winner last prepped at Turfway
- Winner never ran on dirt
- Jock/Trainer/Owner get first win
- Fairly clean race without huge excuses. Maybe Nehro moved too soon.

I'd be surprised if we see Uncle Mo anytime soon, if ever. I also think Dialed In will be off a while. His race and work schedule certainly were not very encouraging. He has the look of a colt with some issue they managed best they could.

I don't care much about triple digit figures in preps. What do they mean? Good horses can come from anywhere.

I just wish Brilliant Speed had run at least a little bit.

What race were you watching. I would say Brilliant Speed ran a little bit. He got beat 5.25 lengths and was closing. He certainly outran his odds.

[PatCummings]

I thought I had heard Flay say Animal Kingdom would win the Triple Crown, but couldn't find confirmation...so if someone says it was for sure Soldat, so be it.

I did like his general logic, however, that because of the general lack of uber-quality, it might be easier to pull it off.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

I thought I had heard Flay say Animal Kingdom would win the Triple Crown, but couldn't find confirmation...so if someone says it was for sure Soldat, so be it.

I did like his general logic, however, that because of the general lack of uber-quality, it might be easier to pull it off.

Yeah, I heard the interview on Versus where he said Soldat would win the Triple Crown...guess he knows as much as the rest of us.

[Left Bank]

Mike Battaglia picked Animal Kingdom to win the Derby!