I keep hearing that Scat is slow, and his numbers don\'t jump off the page, to be sure. But he\'s not that slow. He has, after all, run the two quickest times of any of the Derby runners at 1 1/8 (and by a fair amount). His time in the Fla. Derby was almost exactly the same as Barbaro\'s last year, with a bit quicker fractions (except the last). And, it\'s not like Gulf runners can\'t handle the Churchill surface (Monarchos, anyone?).
As to his getting trounced in the BCJ and the Holy Bull, it bears mentioning that SS and Nobiz were foaled in February and January respectively - while Scat (and Hard Spun) was a May foal. That\'s a big gap for juvies.
He\'s closed a torrid pace (FOY), and stalked a quick pace (FD). If he\'s going at double digits, he\'ll get at least some of my money.