3 year old season

[cj's dad]

What do you think is the first serious prep race for 3 YO on the road to the Triple Crown?

[jonnielu]

What do you think is the first serious prep race for 3 YO on the road to the Triple Crown?

Fountain of Youth - GP

jdl

[Murph]

The 3YO stakes over this weekend are the first serious preps I like to consider.

GP - HUTCHESN-G2

TP - TPPREVUE50K

AQU - COUNTFLEET75K

SA - SANMIGUEL75K

Others may look to only Graded Stakes as preps, but I like to start here
for clues on developing horses and connections.

Murph

[MakinItHappen]

The 3YO stakes over this weekend are the first serious preps I like to consider.

GP - HUTCHESN-G2

TP - TPPREVUE50K

AQU - COUNTFLEET75K

SA - SANMIGUEL75K

Others may look to only Graded Stakes as preps, but I like to start here
for clues on developing horses and connections.

Murph

Smooth Air won the Hutcheson (G2) at Gulfstream Park last Saturday at 9-1 over a sloppy sealed track.

Sounds like either the Sunshine Millions Dash at Santa Anita on January 26 or the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay on Feb 16 will be his next stop.

Some good early coverage of this year's contenders can be found at

www.kentuckyderby.com (http://www.kentuckyderby.com/)

They also have some replays of the prep races there.

Best of Luck To Everyone!

MakinItHappen

[FlyinLate]

Speaking of 3yo horses, has anyone seen anything from Tale of Ekati lately? I have him in my virtual stable and haven't even gotten a written workout since his flop on BC day. He's still my top selection for the derby :cool:

[zerosky]

What do you think is the first serious prep race for 3 YO on the road to the Triple Crown?

Working from the principle that these kind of horses will run approximately once every thirty days or so and working backwards from the first week in May,
the major preps seem to be grouped between the back end of Feb. and the beginning of March: followed by the back end of March and the beginning of April

Fountain of Youth, Louisiana Derby, San Felipe Stakes are the early ones

Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby, Arkansas Derby, Blue Grass Stakes are the later ones.

This lists the major preps for recently run Derby's, unless I've got my data mixed up!

Sea Hero (1993) (Blue Grass Stakes 2nd)
Go for Gin (1994) (Fountain of Youth 2nd) (Wood Memorial 2nd)
Thunder Gulch (1995) (Florida Derby 1st) (Blue Grass Stakes 4th)
Grindstone (1996) (Louisiana Derby 1st) (Arkansas Derby 2nd)
Silver Charm (1997) (San Felipe Stakes 1st) (Santa Anita Derby 1st)
Real Quiet (1998) (San Felipe Stakes 2nd) (Santa Anita Derby 2nd)
Charismatic (1999) (Santa Anita Derby 4th) (Lexington Stakes 1st)
Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) (San Felipe Stakes 1st) (Wood Memorial 1st)
Monarchos (2001) (Florida Derby 1st) (Wood Memorial 2nd)
War Emblem (2002) (Illinois Derby 1st)
Funny Cide (2003) (Louisiana Derby 3rd) (Wood Memorial 2nd)
Smarty Jones (2004) (Rebel Stakes 1st) (Arkansas Derby 1st)
Giacomo (2005) (San Felipe Stakes 2nd) (Santa Anita Derby 4th)
Barbaro (2006) (Holy Bull Stakes 1st) (Florida Derby 1st)
Street Sense (2007) (Tampa Bay Derby 1st) (Blue Grass Stakes 2nd)

[Tee]

Fountain of Youth followed by the San Felipe.

[cj]

Fountain of Youth followed by the San Felipe.

I used to agree. The San Felipe won't mean much now that it isn't run on dirt. It will give some conditioning though.

[46zilzal]

How they do at NINE furlongs is the key. Those races separate the contenders (who can rate for 10 furlongs) from the pretenders (those quick ones who can win UP TO but not including 9.0 furlongs). Santa Anita and Keeneland's preps should now have an asterisk by them, particularly the latter as, in regards to last year's running, Carl Nafzger called it the stupidest grade one ever or something along those lines.