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CJ's pace figures revealed all along that Medina Spirit was a "hidden" frontrunner if so utilized by his rider. Even without Caddo River and Concert Tour, I thought there was speed to be found from Soup and Sandwich, Rock Your World, and Midnight Bourbon but could not reconcile Medina Spirit's Robert Lewis effort (with the fastest Timeform numbers on a dry track) on the front end with his other races.
In hindsight, he was nearly on equal terms with Life Is Good going a flat mile despite letting his more fancied stablemate have the run of the race and then ran interference for him in the San Felipe.
His Santa Anita Derby form was muddled, too, as revealed by John Velasquez in his post-race interview while still on horseback. He said he let Rock Your World go in that race because he presumed he would "come back to him" after setting fast fractions and spent most of the race worried about Dream Shake for some odd reason. Said the plan today was simply to use his early speed and see what happens.
I thought he would get a Real Quiet-type trip if he was good enough, but instead got the patented unpressured lead granted to all Baffert horses in 10 furlong races. Only the horrendously ill-prepared Soup and Sandwich harried him at any stage of the early going.
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