A Closer Look

(Noticed at the last minute, First Commandment had the best month of March workout wise. Will be interesting to see how he runs!)

With a little extra time today I took a closer look at today's Wood Memorial. Again, the focus is on spacing of breezes and races and what we might glean in this regard.

I've only looked at breeze/race frequency for the year and for the last 45 days. There's so much more to training of course including spacing of the last breeze to the race, distance, speed, gallop outs, rider ability, and what the horse does between its fast works.

But, pure frequency might give us an idea as to the hard/soft training of the particular horse, and whether the horse can last the course.

The Wood:

Workouts/races for the year:
Court Vision: 11
Inner Light: 9
Texas Wildcatter: 9
Spurrier: 9
First Commandment: 11
War Pass: 9
Roman Emperor: 7
Giant Moon: 13
Tale of Ekati: 13 that show. It's probably 14 total
Anak Nakal: 12

Purely from a "frequency standpoint" can we predict that Giant Moon, Tale Of Ekati and Anak Nakal will show a little better than the others in terms of maintaining their action to the wire?

Workouts/races last 45 days:
Court Vision: 6
Inner Light: 5
Texas Wildcatter: 5
Spurrier: 5
First Commandment: 5
War Pass: 4
Roman Emperor: 4
Giant Moon: 6
Tale of Ekati: 7
Anak Nakal: 5

What I see above is a bunch of conventional east coast trainers with similar training. There are some nuances above. First, most have worked frequently in the crucial 45 days before the race. Siginficantly, War Pass is the least of the group, and it would be a major surprise to me if that horse lasts the race today. Given the sheer ignorance of his handling, I'm fearing for the horse.

If the track were dry you'd expect nice stuff today from Giant Moon and Tale of Ekati. You're unable to overlook Anak Nakal as Zito, compared to his usual self, has been frenetic with that horse of late. I'd give the nod to Court Vision if slow breezing will get you this race. It might well do so. This is an unimpressive group of trainers with Barclay Tagg standing out slightly. Trouble with Tagg, I know he does less with his horses between works.

As I've done zero handicapping, I'll pass on this one other than to say the Court Vision, Tale of Ekati, Giant Moon, and Anak Nakal would be right in there based on workouts alone.

Training:
Friday 4/4: Art and Rod back at it. 10 min. riderless easy mostly play + 10 min walk under tack for Art.