Nadal
 

First start was very impressive IMO. Too late for the derby?

https://www.equibase.com/premium/cha...20&cy=USA&rn=7

I told my mom, a tennis enthusiast, about this horse and he's become her Derby horse for this year. Hopefully he makes it... prob not too late considering the last few years or so.

He beat a couple of nice prospects. Mandella's horse wants a route.

Let's wait till the Blood work comes back.

98 Beyer

Will Nadal be retired the day after the Belmont?

Was Nadal getting a lot of positive comments in the clocker reports in CA prior to his debut?

When I quickly looked at the race I thought he was one of several first time starters that were well bred and working very well. I was kind of surprised he took so much more money than the others, but that kind of money is usually right and coming from people that have have actually been watching all the relevant horses work.

Yes, he was being talked about as long ago as last summer when he was working toward debut before he was sidelined. He was injured when he caught his leg in a van divider while being vanned across town. Needed time off after that while the others in Baffert's stabled moved forward (8 Rings, etc). That's per Free in the SA notes...

He is a massive horse, I can see why they were excited about him, but I think it will be difficult moving forward. The weight listed for him on the screen at SA was 1,323 pounds!!! The other Baff horse was 1,250 which is huge too, they will be a challenge to keep sound, I know Nadal had some set backs before.


https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...ising-stardom/

We know the horse is bred to handle grass, hard court, and clay. Very versatile.

San Vicente next up for Nadal...

You can always tell how serious Baffert is by the way he handles jockey assignments. I couldn't even tell you who rode Nadal in his mdn win.

His quick switch to MSmith on Justify spoke volumes.

He has been giving Diaz some good mounts, but this one is obviously important.

Nadal looks great.
He looks one of Bafferts typical star 3yos. One who could possibly be in the Derby and the triple crown races.

I tried to watch his recent work on xbtv, but they stopped the video after he rounded the far turn. I would have to guess his unseen gallop-out was probably fine. Baffert tends to gallop out far when he has the magic going w/ a Derby trail horse.

San Vicente looks a little disappointing as a race.
Something like six or seven horses IIRC, and Bob has one of the others (two total).

The race is being hyped as Nadal vs the 2yo 'champ'(did they name whoever happened to win the BCJuv as the 2yo champ, or something?)

Do they give any Derby points for this race?

The move back to a sprint when the original plan was the Southwest stakes makes me think this horse might not be quite ready for a race like the Derby; it might be too much too soon, unless he races in 3 more races prior to May and that seems more like too much too soon. But Baffert knows his horse... maybe he has other ideas.