The EL Camino Real Derby 2/15/14

El Camino Real G3

GG  R8  2/15/14

This is only a G3 race and I don't think this race usually gets very much attention but this year I think it should. As far as pedigrees go, this is a really good field.

With Craftsman we finally see a nice horse that had been trained by O'Brien that's not put on a plane and brought over here and dropped into the Derby without at least one work over the track. This guy made his first start in Dec. and that was on the grass where he was favored but didn't run much at all. The question is: Will he take to the synthetic track? He's had a chance to really get acclimated and has steady works on the dirt at SA. He has a really nice pedigree except for one factor, the Mr P mares in the influential spots. He can probably get 9f but I doubt he can go 10f. He gets blinkers today and may be a lot closer to this race that is lacking in early speed.

Tamarando I think will relish the extra distance because his breeding tells me he can run all day. He's at a disadvantage today with the lack of speed in here. The pace may be slow but it's possible that Baze may put him a little closer to a slow pace. At this point in time he may have a little edge in experience and class. After all, he did run third to Shared Belief and Candy Boy in the Cash Call and Candy Boy came out of that and took the RB Lewis last week.

Enterprising is probably the speed in this and Stevens may just gun him to the front. He has a nice pedigree With the sire and dam sire being of the Northern Dancer line. He stretched out last time and ran well in the CA Derby and was slowly getting to the winner.

Infosec, I'll Wrap it Up and Dance With Fate may run close to the pace but I think all three have some distance limitations even though they are nicely bred. Of course, when I say that I'm referring to the Derby distance.

Puppy Manners being sired by Kitten's Joy and inbred to Northern Dancer probably wants more distance. He's had 8 races already and he wasn't tried around 2 turns till his last. I look for a big improvement from him but he may have the same problem as his stablemate with the lack of speed in this.

1- Craftsman
2- Tamarando
3- Enterprising
4- Puppy Manners

Backstretch