Derby Trail 2017 Blown Up!

[PowerUpPaynter]

Good day,

Well id say after yesterday, for the first time in a few years, this thing is wide open. What do you make of what happened to Irish War Cry? Who is your current top 10? www.DerbyPowerRankings.com was completely blown up yesterday and who knows what to make of where the shrapnal fell...


For once we got a trail that is wide open and its kind of nice...


Cheers

[PizzaCat]

I wouldn't say blown up, just weeding out the pretenders of IWC, El Areeb, and Mo Town.

The real class of this crop IMO is Gormley, American Anthem, and Mastery. If we see some upsets in the San Felipe and Rebel, then I'd be willing to say that the trail has blown up. Hoping it happens as we haven't seen a big surprise since the RTTKD system

[sbcaris]

The real class does not show itself until the 9 furlong major preps have been run. Even then it's really tough to discern who is classiest.

[CincyHorseplayer]

Irish War Cry ran a real dud but I can forgive him that one. Kept putting up a bigger and bigger performnace with increasing adversity as he went. After that big number, easy trip or not, there was no way IMO he has going to duplicate it. To me his real problem is running style. Lot of talented speed this year if they all make it to the dance, again just my opinion on speed too.

My top 3 performances this year are;

One Liner, Irish War Cry, and McCraken

Girvin ran great overall but it was all set up by that very slow first half

Mastery has been my horse from a pedigree and talent perspective and his overall performance last out was warped by both a 45.6 half to start and it was friggin December 10th! LOL!

Yesterday's Fountain Of Youth while visually impressive to me came up as one of the worst preps of the year.

But like you I am enjoying a wide open affair. I have not enjoyed Derby day evolving into my main interest being undercard turf races!

[PowerUpPaynter]

yeah, as far as Irish War Cry no need to try to get him to rate anymore. Let him just run and see what happens. Not ideal for the derby, but what else they gonna do... He looked very uncomfortable down teh back stretch trying to rate almost like the horse was saying if i cant go to the front im just gonna shut it down.

Saw Graham Motion say he might wait a little longer than the April 1 Florida Derby, Im thinking if he skips that the Wood is the target. maybe the Bluegrass, but youd think he would opt for teh easier spot.

now on a side note, isnt J Boys Echo one of the worst names for a racehorse in a while. jeez

[letswastemoney]

I'm skeptical of Irish War Cry's stamina. You don't want a horse going 10 furlongs who can't handle a hot pace.

[magwell]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

I'm skeptical of Irish War Cry's stamina. You don't want a horse going 10 furlongs who can't handle a hot pace.

He was not the same looking horse in the paddock, looked dull , something was not right that's why being on the scene is the last edge in the game, actually it came up a weak bunch visually, must be some better 3 year olds somewhere ?

[boys at tosconova]

Originally Posted by magwell

He was not the same looking horse in the paddock, looked dull , something was not right that's why being on the scene is the last edge in the game, actually it came up a weak bunch visually, must be some better 3 year olds somewhere ?

weak bunch? the top 3 finishers in the FOY earned over 2.1 mil combined as 2 year olds. between them they had multiple graded wins and accomplished resumes.

18 starts w/ 11wins - 3pl - 1show..15/18 itm not including the foy results

i would say that's a pretty strong, and weak is not what i would use to describe them

[PowerUpPaynter]

i think this whole crop as a whole may be weak. the New York and Louisiana horses are absolutely pathetic. The crowd at Oaklawn seem to be pretty solid however.

[boys at tosconova]

Originally Posted by PowerUpPaynter

i think this whole crop as a whole may be weak. the New York and Louisiana horses are absolutely pathetic. The crowd at Oaklawn seem to be pretty solid however.

seems like i hear "this crop is weak" every year from somebody

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by boys at tosconova

seems like i hear "this crop is weak" every year from somebody

Yeah. I get tired of it as well BoysAT. Every year we hear the same thing. "This crop sucks, nobody is good, and nothing will come of them."

I love this "crop". I think this is a very solid crop, and like Arrogate last year, we haven't seen the flashlight quite yet. I am a big Irish War Cry fan, but heavily wagered against him in his last. He is a Miler. Straight up.

Gunnevera has ran the best race thus far from my point of view. J whatever Echo, has no chance.

Reality is, breeding is too huge in that the biggies want to keep them healthy and take a 2 run type (prep and actual KDerby) go at it in this day and time. We've seen some. A month away from the real races.

[horses4courses]

Originally Posted by boys at tosconova

seems like i hear "this crop is weak" every year from somebody

Without fail

Someone should really stick their neck out,
for a change, and make a statement in March
like "looks like the best crop in a long time"

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by horses4courses

Without fail

Someone should really stick their neck out,
for a change, and make a statement in March
like "looks like the best crop in a long time"

I'll do that for you.

This looks like a really good crop to me. Better than the last decade type stuff. Maidens right now, that could win the roses.

I see a lot of great to good to pure awesome horses. And it is must March. Let the time come about. You'll see the awesomeness.

Arrogate.

Horse nobody really heard about up till August of last year. Certainly not ever during the Triple Crown Trail, has turned in to be a Horse of a Lifetime.

Do we have another?

[PowerUpPaynter]

Well ill stand by my statement which was misquoted :

"i think this whole crop as a whole may be weak. the New York and Louisiana horses are absolutely pathetic. The crowd at Oaklawn seem to be pretty solid however."


Again I want to see the Rebel because I think the Oaklawn horses look like they can be the top of the class. Also want to see how Mastery looks next week. Anyone who wants to make a case for these putrid NY or Louisiana horses go right ahead... but they suck. J Boys Echo and Girvin... give me a break.

Finally we got a derby season which is wide open. No Nyquist, Pharoah, or Chrome...

[menifee]

I actually think this crop is really good so far. I'm not sure we have seen the Derby winner win one of these preps though.

That Japanese horse is also really intriguing. Looks to be a very exciting Spring.