Took a quick first look through the sheets for the undercard. A few thoughts and quesitons:
1) Benny the Bull seems to lay over the rest of the True North Field. I was looking to take a shot against him because of the weight he is giving up and the fact that he is first back from Dubai but even adjusted for the weight, he\'s much faster and the spacing into this race is very consistent with his spacing into his previous races. To me, he looks like the best single in the pk 6 sequence. Anyone think any differently?
2) In the filly turf race, Criminologist\'s last is much better than anything in here but is she a bounce candidate off of the 5.25 point improvement or can we throw out her comeback race because of the layoff and the wet turf? Also, is a mile enough for her or does she need more ground.
3) The Acorn is a short field but very interesting. Indian Blessing will take alot of the money but Zaftig is alot faster. She could bounce and still win. She gets Johnny V over chop chop Chavez here as well. She\'s likely to provide some good value in both the pick 6 and the pick 4 despite the short field
4) The woody stepehns is a wide wide open race and I think we need to go deep in this one to make sure we stay alive in the multi race exoctics. J Be K is a bit faster but not by much and after that, it\'s wide open. Majestic Warrior\'s Derby Trial was alot better than it looked (surprised it didn\'t get a !) and he will likely be dismissed as a Derby trail failure. I think he\'s just a closing sprinter and didn\'t want the two turns despite his breeding so he\'s interesting at a likely big price.
5) Proudinsky seems like a standout in the Manhatten. I think Pays to Dream will bounce off the big number on Preakness day. I will also use Shakis because I think the two slower recent numbers are because the turf was soft which he doesn\'t like and he could run back to last year\'s numbers and offer some value. Kirian wouldn\'t run him back quick if he wasn\'t ready to fire another one and Kirian has said before he doesn\'t like the wet so don\'t leave him out. Out of Control also seems to be a must include on deeper tickets. I will probably single Proudinsky on some tickets but use Shakis and Out of COntrol on others.
6) In terms of the Belmont, as I\'ve said before, I will be using all of the horses that have previously run 0\'s given that I think it\'s likely that Big Brown moves backward given the 3 races in 5 weeks and the lack of ability to train consistently between the preakness and Belmont. Of the 4 that have previously run 0\'s, as I\'ve said before, Denis of Cork is the one I like the best because of his pattern and the fact that he came into the Derby having run only 1 race in 7 weeks so he has every right to improve based on both his pattern and being fitter into this race. He will be my key for the Belmont but I will go deeper with the other 3 zero horses for the pk 4 and pick 6. If Brownie wins, I will tip my hat and shake my head in amazement while I tear up all my tickets.
Anyone have any thoughts, especially on the races leading up to the Big one since I have beat that to death already over the last few weeks?
