FG R9 Sat. 1/18/14
I am really still looking for that horse that combines the type of classic pedigree I like with some powerful races. It's still early and we have got to wait and see if any of the winners so far are able to follow up with some more good races. With the point system in effect it looks like a lot of the contenders will only have a couple of preps before the Derby unless they are forced to try to garner more points to make it into the race.
This race has produced some nice winners in recent years like Hard Spun and Oxbow last year. There seems to be an abundance of colts this year that have, what has almost become a standard, pedigrees loaded with the Mr Prospector, Northern Dancer and Nasrullah sire lines. An awful lot of good horses are bred along these lines but that's to be expected since there are so many of these bred every year. This race has more than it's share of these and it's hard to say which ones are the better until they have been sorted out by racing
Gold Hawk has a different type of pedigree in that there is no real inbreeding involved. He has a lot of different sire lines in his breeding and it's hard to tell if one of these lines will dominate or if, by all the crosses, everything has been, for lack of a better term, diluted. So far, it looks like one of those great sire lines in his pedigree is going to make it's influence felt and he could be a really nice colt.
Got Shades is very nicely bred and has a couple of patterns I favor. He has shown some promise on the grass but we don't know how he will take to the dirt. I think his breeding actually points more to dirt than turf but he's been racing in the weeds simply because there were no dirt races going long available to him. If he shows a liking for dirt he could be dangerous in here.
Albano has a pedigree dominated by the Mr Prospector line but has a nice cross of the Gallant Man & Mr P lines through Pocho's Dream Girl who was brought back into the Mr P line to produce Albano. This cross is not common but so far it seems to be working. Larry Jones, who trained Hard Spun to win this race, also trains this one.
Smarty's Echo may have more stamina than his sire who many thought wouldn't get the Derby distance but we all know what happened there. I think Smarty Jones got his staying power from his dam who's sire line liked a distance and Echo isn't going to be hurt by being out of a mare of the Sword Dancer line. Of course, a few in this race may not shine until they get to the 10f distance.
Vicar's in Trouble blew them away in a state bred race with a big speed figure so will probably catch a lot of action. It looks like Rosie jumped off two other mounts to ride this one. He does have speed and may be hard to catch except that his big win is not the kind of race that impresses me. It was a state bred race and it appears he had everything his way and these type of performances usually produce big numbers. Of course, that's just my opinion.
Plug Catcher ran third to Hawk last time making a bid that he couldn't sustain. With that race under his belt and the addition of blinkers he may show a little more staying power.
This race, not having any graded winners, could be up for grabs so I can't get too sold on any particular one. Since he hasn't been beaten yet I'll stick with Gold Hawk but I think he will go off at odds on.
1- Gold Hawk
2- Got Shades
3- Albano
4- Smarty's Echo
Backstretch
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