Derby Pedigree Contenders

It's getting down to crunch time. These are the contenders I have let that qualify on my pedigree angles. I basically have 2 pedigree angles that I use and one or the other angle has won 9 of the last 13 derbies. Of course their form must be taken into consideration so as of the moment I don't have them all listed in the exact order of preference. This list is in order of pedigree preference without regard to current form.

MASTER OF HOUNDS.....A super- duper pedigree that contains BOTH of my pedigree factors...there are a couple of ifs with him....is he really going to show up?....never raced on dirt so how will he take to it?...has a world class trainer that's been observing the preps so I don't think he would come unless he felt confident....has one race this year at Dubai and was nosed at 1 3/16 miles...has speed but likes to track leaders.

ARCHARCHARCH.....also has 2 of my angles working for him...this pedigree makes him almost a full brother to last years classic winner BLAME.....is in top form having just won the ARK DERBY....has speed to get position but runs best off the pace...can accelerate rapidly so he's able to get the jump on other closers.

UNCLE MO.....has 1 1/2 of my angles....has been mishandled so far this year in my opinion...regardless of the excuses I just think he was short on condition...is being treated for stomach infection so outlook is up in the air.

JAYCITO.........has a foot problem...has had only one race this year and has been off about 40 days...can't figure what Baffert is doing with him.

STAY THIRSTY.....didn't run a lick in FL DERBY....what happened?...a little upside is that he beat TOBY'S CORNER and that one came back to take the WOOD.

ANTHONY'S CROSS....was immediately taken back at the start in the SA DERBY...ran evenly and was only beaten 5 lengths....after his grade 2 win he was out almost 2 months...they say nothing was wrong....he could show a big improvement off his last....best races are on the pace...has shown a lot of gameness.

ANIMAL KINGDOM....has a lot of champion foreign horses in his pedigree and I don't quite know how I should read it....sharp race in last winning the SPIRIAL

SANTIVA....another that came off the bench last time and didn't do well...I assume this was a conditioning race since it was on the poly...also has some turf races but has shown a preference for dirt, especially at CD

WATCH ME GO....has tactical speed but was taken back a bit last time against soft fractions...JOE VANN, the winner of that race is a very good horse on a roll.

There are a few that I will give an honorable mention to;  THE FACTOR, SOLDAT, BRILLIANT SPEED, and MIDNIGHT INTERLUDE but these don't really tell me they can get the distance.

My pedigree angles are designed strictly for the classic distances and there are many horses that are brilliant at 1 1/8 but just can't get that other 1/8. Pedigree handicapping is not an exact science by any means but it does point to the horses able to get the classic distances.

When MINE THAT BIRD won the derby, 5 of the first 6 under the wire had one of my pedigree angles including the winner.

When everything is in I will give my final selections for the DERBY right here.

In the future I will be posting an article on how I go about pedigree handicapping and I know you will be surprised by how I came about learning these pedigree factors.

BACKSTRETCH