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Justin Dew
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On The Outside Looking In

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Delightful Kiss by himself during a Saturday morning gallop.

With the connections of Teuflesberg and Bwana Bull opting to pull out of the Derby Trial in favor of Kentucky Derby, horses like Delightful Kiss and Reporting For Duty now have little chance of making the field for the 133rd Run For The Roses.

I find it interesting that Bwana Bull was originally aiming for today's Derby Trial, but was scratched because of a minor injury that occurred while shipping to Kentucky. You don't see many horses land in any Grade I by accident, much less the Kentucky Derby. Nevertheless, Bwana Bull has the graded earnings to get in. Teuflesberg, on the other hand, needs a defection, as he is currently ranked #21 on the earnings list. I hope he gets in. He's just about impossible to root against.

I don't think anyone considered for a second that D. Wayne Lukas might end up in the Derby field this year, but it was not as far-fetched as you might have thought before today. Play along with me for a second. Xchanger and Imawildandcrazyguy have been discussed as "possible" for the Derby pretty much all along. Teuflesberg and Bwana Bull were entered in the Trial today. And Reporting For Duty was mentioned as possible for the Lone Star Derby. So, if all five of them had ended up passing the Kentucky Derby, the next horse to draw into the field would have been Starbase, trained by Lukas. After Starbase comes Delightful Kiss (pictured above in a morning gallop all alone on Saturday), both of whom now join Teuflesberg, Imawildandcrazyguy and Reporting For Duty as Derby hopefuls needing defections before Wednesday.

Posted by Justin Dew | Justin's Blog

3 Responses

Justin Dew

April 29, 2007 - 10:58am #

Stephen,

You don't want my Road To The Roses advice.

Stephen Taylor

April 29, 2007 - 7:48am #

Me again, I guess if I'm gonna ask your help, I should tell you my other options:
Hard Spun (a throw out now) Cowtown Cat (although he's a very good horse, I don't think he's as good as a lot of these) Great Hunter (scares me) and Any Given Saturday (will be on my other team which has pletcher/gomez-that team isnt out of it.
And speaking of the fantasy teams, who would have thunk that Robbie Albarado would be the point leader among Jocks and Garrett Gomez would be shut out (which is really hurting my other team)

Stephen Taylor

April 29, 2007 - 7:39am #

Justin-
Thanks for the "info" on Hard Spun. I've got a fantasy team doing very well (4th in the cash standings, 2 points out of second and 11 out of first) and I need to try to figure out which 5 to go with on Derby Day. As for Great Hunter, much was made of the "trouble" that he had last race, but the most telling, to me, thing said was by the jock who said that he didn't claim foul because he thought the horse was pretty much done anyway. (Although I still gotta decide if it was a "bounce" which isn't all bad, or he just isn't good enough)
Here's what I've come up with for the day so far- Circular Quay (have pletcher/velasquez) Scat Daddy (have pletcher-my pick to win) Curlin (have asmussen, most talented horse) And here comes the dilemma: I have Asmussen so I should use Zanjero, the problem is that I don't have as much faith in him as you do- but on the other hand if you're right and he runs well (and actually wins the race!) that could "leapfrog me" into first and a whole lot of money. If I use Zanjero, that would mean that I need to get rid of either Street Sense or Nobiz like Showbiz. You've done very well on Derby day-your thoughts?