Thoughts On The Florida Derby

This race had me scrambling to open a Twin Spires Account as, without the Danger To Society wild card, the Superfecta had turned into another handicapper's dream with the order of finish of the first three virtually pre-ordained, and Stately Character, if you look at the training, being easily identified as"best of the rest". Alas, I'd forgot the necessity of Equifax approval before account activation. Oh well!

The race was certainly enjoyable with Quality Road flashing the speed of his sire (see Elusive Quality and his 1:07.2 6f on You Tube), and Dunkirk as every bit the clone of Unbridled's Song. And then, humor post race with a constipated Plecher complaining about the track while he might instead have explained the 37 cents worth of training he's given with his 3.7 million dollar colt. What where he and Gomez thinking to allow a speedy front runner able to hold his speed on this sort of track to get that big a lead?

But, we nit pick. Do these boys really want to get Dunkirk into the Derby or are their public goings on just for show to buttress up the value of their investment? First they buck the horse's shins where for 3.7 mil they'd might have brought in Nunamaker himself just to avoid. And, surely $150,000 earnings will get them into the Derby field where Dunkirk, probably coming off three powder puff Plecher breezes would be expected to run down the buzz saws developing on the West coast. The Derby has been a graveyard for many a high dollar Keenland purchase, and I'm recalling Momba and Cowboy Cal as well as Scat Daddy, Cowtown Cat etc. You'll see their training or lack thereof documented on the blog.

The more interesting story here is Quality Road and whether we're getting a typical fan overreaction to a winning performance or whether this is indeed a superior horse. QR seems a very good horse, but we're going to find out whether Jimmy Jerkens can train with Dutrow and Nafzger or whether he's merely a Zito, McPeek, Shug McGhaughey, Mott conventional light trainer from the East coast now operating without their steroids.

Finally, I've been watching The Pamplemoose. There's something unwell developing here and I'm wondering if this horse will even make it to the Derby. The videos show a horse, kudos, breezing once a week but who otherwise gives the appearance of getting maybe a gallop a week and questionable husbandry. If you watch the handling in the videos, the details show, BUT we'll see how this one turns out. Back to bones on this blog, hopefully tomorrow.

Training:
3/27 and 28 Sat. and Sun. Off in the snow and mud. We've lost tack work in 2 out of the 4 weeks in March, but are ok with good weather blowing in.