SPIELBERG wants to watch the exercise riders and talk trash to the clockers, 'getting out' with his head in the stretch, but his body is general a quality horse, and he doesn't get tired in long gallop-outs. He started out as a joke, and has developed into a serious horse.
Baffert and Castellano are aware of how close the starting gate is to the first turn.
In this race... speed situated outside? One possible scenario, is that
is quarterhorsed. (Whether he is quick enough and fundamentally sound enough to pull it off is a question)
Collaborate is kind of a 'hype' underlay, but he is legitimately a nice animal in the flesh, and is a decent speed horse for Saffie Joseph. He's another who must 'hustle' at the break.
Very important whether, and how easily
clear.
deserves respect as a board-hitter if only for possessing rail speed in a fairly soft paced grouping. Will Mott want Junior to be aggressive and 'play' the 1st turn?
Known Agenda is a player, and can actually be considered an inside speed here. Can easily 'attend' just off the pace with Irad.
Soup and Sandwich is worth a look. His last race featured slow fractions, but his maiden was enough at a sprint to push a bit. From post 8 Johnny and Casse/Live Oak aren't here to be passive. Possible player, have to watch his races.
So
Greatest Honour does face a step up in class today. Show and Prove. Personally, I was very impressed with what I felt was a significant track configuration bias. His tactical ability, and his closing kick offset the bad post, last time, but there was a loose medium quality inside speed, and he basically had to sit tight and be perfect in terms of fundamentals, until the last possible second. That's not gonna produce a big Beyer. Maybe he's
'the "Ichiro"' of racing and is just perfect fundamentals? Today with a fair trip will show one way or the other. Today we should see a mild advancement on the backstretch. He's not a dead-set deep closer. See the trip, see how the the outside speeds make it around the first turn, see if anyone like Known Agenda fires a big one off, but if he's in the same form and gets a reasonable chance we're going to see a contending race and a career high Beyer.
