I have virtually no idea what Pyro is going to do tomorrow in his first try on Poly.
I\'m hoping he runs a mediocre race and his odds move higher for the Derby.
IMO.....
Some fast 2YOs don\'t develop further as 3YOs.
Some fast 2YOs don\'t want to stretch out to middle and longer distances.
However, very few 3YOs are worse than they were at 2 unless they develop some physical problems.
As far as I can tell, Pyro had a great winter and has had a perfect series of prep races at 3. IMO, his peak is at least as fast as it was at 2 and possibly faster.
This was a very fast 2YO if you include his slop race. I realize that I\'ve downplayed other slop efforts, but Pyro is not a speedy loose on the lead type. I think there\'s a better chance his slop effort was legit and will translate to a fast track. Even if you exclude that race, he still ran a solid 3 as a 2YO and has to have a very good chance to improve on that by between 2-4 points.
I also think he\'s close to a mortal lock to have a much faster race in him than he has shown so far at 3. He didn\'t have ideal conditions for his style in either start this year, but could very well get perfect conditions in the Derby. Initially, I didn\'t like the fact that he was closing from so far out of it, but he got better position last out.
The fact that his form may get clouded by the Poly surface tomorow is great (the first nice words I ever said about the stuff). I think he has a huge shot in the Derby.