Dirt Road To Preakness

I had two bucks on Dublin. Refuses to run. Got one just like him. And, another questionable ride by Gomez. I thought this was a quality field. All big strong horses. But, conventionally trained, and so, it's good that the one trainer with his head above the crowd should win it. Although, how that get that sort of performance without a breeze falls in Bill O'Gorman's word of "inexplicable".

As for the rest, I'd noticed Yowanna Twist and his nice second in Illinois Derby, and though trained by Dutrow, probably the second quality (?) trainer here, as probably less than up to these in terms of talent. But, the conditioning showed in the race. First Dude I also noticed with the Blood Horse interview of Dale Romans. 17 hands + for the horse and training well. Must have a stride.

Super Saver--well, what can you say. Unknown to me, but can you keep a horse mostly in the barn and do a little 3f breeze and expect the horse to have much in the stretch? As an aside, I noticed pre-race the horse was trying to take a dump, but the handlers just refused to let him stop walking so he could relax and go. He tried to stop them but they failed to notice. Little stuff. When you're on the way over there, you've got to be aware of the horse trying to dump. Some just won't unless their stopped and have a chance to relax. He kept raising his tail, then stopping them and raising his head. I noticed it. They, otherwise.

Paddy O'Prado--same deal. Questionable training. Zero breezing since Derby by a trainer hardly known for rigorous galloping otherwise. Same trainer as First Dude. But, they were priming First Dude and relaxing with grey. Questionable. Schoolyard Dreams I'd identified as a fraud. They've done too little with the horse.

Training:

Here in KC it's raining again. I believe that's about 5 out of the last 7 days with a couple more days to go. I'm aiming for a race track, June 1 and losing my conditioning again. Walked him under tack in the mud yesterday. All we could do.