We are awfully close to Saratoga and Del Mar, two of the most popular meets of the year. I am sure there will be lots of opportunities on both the east and west coasts. While I am the first to admit I am not a fan of extending these meets and believe less is more and the quality has been watered down, they are still great meets and most of us wait for them annually.
We recently did a video on Past the Wire TV about a few of my favorite Saratoga angles. This would be a good time to check it out. It can’t hurt, it can only help.
The three-year-olds are starting to sort themselves out, sort of. It is still a wide-open bunch with nobody emerging as a clear-cut division leader. We had three different winners of The Triple Crown races, and we are heading towards The Haskell, Jim Dandy, Pennsylvania Derby and some others with as many questions as answers.
The Los Alamitos Derby is Saturday and Reincarnate and Skinner are both back. Personally, I think Reincarnate has that race to lose and the rest have their work cut out for them. That said, Skinner was highly regarded and may have grown up some. Enough to handle Reincarnate I doubt but again we’ll see.
The Indiana Derby, also on Saturday features Verifying and Raise Cain, both on ‘the trail” earlier in the year but for me a few up and comers in there look far more enticing. Transect may finally be putting it together for a very dangerous and capable barn. Speed from the rail as they say. Act a Fool hails from another dangerous capable barn and while he may be no replacement for Two Phil’s this is a good spot for him, and he can make his share of noise in here.
Over at Belmont things are wrapping up with a focus on the grass. The mile and a quarter Belmont Derby drew 11 and is a competitive quality filled race in my view.
The impeccably bred and talented The Foxes makes the trip over from across the Atlantic for Andrew balding and brings Oisin Murphy with him. This is a very good colt who has already run well going further and has to be looked at as a serious threat to win this. He did not have a good start in the “key race” English Derby and still rad credibly. Silver Knott a highly regarded Godolphin runner who did not get the best of the pace scenario and set up last out returns and can go much better. Things look different for him this time at least on paper where there appears to be some pace. We know how that tends to go in these grass races but the projection for some pace contention is there.
Redistricting is only one for one with an explosive turn of foot in his maiden win has a tall task and big ask in front of him. To win here would take a special horse and some expert preparation. Hailing from the barn of Chad Brown the first is very possible and the latter is just about a guarantee. This impeccably colt would not be here if Chad didn’t think he could win. Nobody spots lightly raced horses better than Chad Brown. If he does win it would be quite the racing and training accomplishment.
Mendelssohns March will be a big price in here. I believe this colt is improving and has some quality to him. I think he can upset this race at a big price if he takes the forward step I expect, and things go right for him.
We should have an exciting day of racing start to finish leading into the two premiere summer meets. Enjoy them.
