3/3 (AQU): Top Flight (G2), Tom Fool, Gotham (G3's)

[Dahoss]

I hear ya. It's a work in progress I'm sure. He's still aggressive, but he seemed at least kind of comfortable sitting off the Dutrow horse.

[pmayjr]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

I'm still not sold on him getting 10 furlongs the first Saturday in May, but rating like he did today will do wonders for Hansen. Before today he was basically a run off speed horse.

Nice training job by Maker and having Ramon obviously doesn't hurt.

Did he rate, or did he just break a little less sharp than some and was caught wide? I'm not really sure what to think. But was a nice comeback performance regardless.

[pba1817]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

These are lightly raced 3-year-olds ... 12 horses in this race made their previous start on a dirt surface ... and all 12 of them went backwards on Beyers from their last start.

This is something I look back on when handicapping key races. What did the entire field do in comparison to their recent form. When you see stuff that doesn't add up, like all these going backwards in one of the biggest races of their short careers, it is virtually impossible.

Another thing I see often is horses who run their career high fig in a losing effort. What I have noticed is more times than not this means the race was too highly rated and these horses will bounce.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Finally taking the blinkers off for the first time in his career helped him settle more than usual ... but I dunno Hossy, he still looked pretty aggressive to me.

I agree with you about the Derby. He certainly has the raw speed of a Derby winner..but all of the last 20 Derby winners except War Emblem and sometimes Funny Cide wouldn't get as aggressive as he does in the first few furlongs.

I thought he was going to be toast after the first turn.

[Thunder Gulch]

Whatever the figure, there 's little doubt Hansen has the speed to win the Derby and today's performance showed a new dimension that will serve him well. Whether he'll relax enough early is a huge question, but bottom line is that he has answered a lot more questions than most with 9 weeks to go.