Quote:
Originally Posted by supersulky
Smile Happy looks good to me. I have him in the futures.
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Haskins has Smile Happy on the top of his list. Giant Game #4
1—Smile Happy (Ken McPeek, Runhappy – Pleasant Smile, by Pleasant Tap)
It’s still early, but if you go by what their trainers say, there is a good chance the No. 1 and 2 ranked horses will square off in the Risen Star Stakes on February 19, along with the No. 6 ranked horse. It’s apparent that points have now become the major focus when planning a horse’s schedule, and if you wait two weeks you can run for 50 points at Fair Grounds instead of running for 10 points at Gulfstream in the Holy Bull Stakes. So many trainers now are content to run their horse only two times before the Derby and you might as well go for the bigger points. Even the No. 3 horse looks like he’ll wait for the March 12 Tampa Bay Derby with the alternative being to debut a week earlier in the Fountain of Fountain of Youth. So we won’t be seeing our current top-ranked horses for quite a while. As for Smile Happy, he didn’t have his usual work this weekend and McPeek said he’s probably going to work him only two more times before the Risen Star, saying he’s “plenty fit” and that he could probably get away with only one more work if he wanted to. He still has the fastest Thoro-Graph number, having run a “2” in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in only his second career start, which is already approaching Derby-type numbers. And both of his races have been two turns, so he does have bottom under him.
4—Giant Game (Dale Romans, Giant’s Causeway – Game For More, by More Than Ready)
Last week I concentrated on his strong series of works and on his pedigree. From a numbers standpoint, he is on a great Thoro-Graph pattern, going from a “13 ½” to a “10 ½” to a solid “4 ¾” in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. I also like that his Brisnet figures jumped from an 84 to a 99. His Beyer figures show a more steady improvement, going from a 69 to 79 to 86, indicating he’s still has a lot more improving to do. It all depends on which numbers you believe are more accurate. The Beyers as a whole have not treated the top horses kindly. Of the 23 Future Wager horses, the only horses to get higher than a 90 are Jack Christopher and Commandperformance, and Jack is gone. Following four rapid works at Gulfstream he was given more of a maintenance work, breezing a half in :49 2/5 and then came back Sunday with a :48 3/5 half. It has been decided to enter him in Saturday’s Holy Bull Stakes and we’ll see what kind of transition he’s made from 2 to 3 and how he stacks up with a hard-knocking graded stakes winner like Mo Donegal and the unknown Tiz the Bomb. Judging by his three fast five-furlong works in January and his two subsequent half-mile breezes he looks ready for a big effort.
https://www.secretariat.com/derby-ra...ings-week-3-2/
