Re: Derby Picks
Nice interesting post, Bishop22. Knowing that Curlin was RNA tells me you dig into this pretty deeply! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I am not sure who I will bet in this race. I want to see how things go early in the week, and who's actually in the race.
Hot activity at CD this week is not an absolutely reliable indicator, either. I recall the year Monarchos won it, he had done all his speed work in the weeks leading up to the race. In the week or so pre-race, they just gave him long gallops of about 2 miles. Nothing sexy in that, so the press quit even going around that barn, being much more interested in who had just worked a bullet five.
This year is truly unique, in that so many of the contenders have done a lot of their work and racing over synthetic surfaces. This has never been true to this extent before this year. It's hard to say which will like the surface at CD.
Also there's a real crowd at the top, vying for favoritism, and this means there'll be some fabulous prices after you get past that crowd, and the race looks wide open to me.
I am not too crazy about anything coming from the west this year, as I think they have had kind of a down year.
I guess this year, the word I would use to describe this race is "random." None of the "stand-outs" really stand out. It's a great year for a crush, but you have to be ready to throw your tickets on the ground, because you can't cover them all. One guy said he's going to hit "all." I don't guess he has thought that over very carefully. And if you or I have no solid opiniuon, there's nothing wrong with just putting a fiver on a longshot and having a julep.
I'll check back later in the week and if I have any insights I'll throw them out there for what they are worth.
bill
|