What has happened to this race!!!! 7 horses!! I cannot remember a Malibu with this short of a field. The Malibu is one of my favorites year in and year out because it usually has a huge field and you almost always can find a very good angle in it. I haven\'t looked at the sheets or the form yet, but just seeing only 7 horses already makes me think it is going to end up being a pass. I could be proven wrong, but am already feeling disappointed because there would need to really be some overwhelming angle for me to feel good about a play in this race (unless there is a way to hook it up in the Pick 4). I fear this is a consequence of the artificial surface.
Imagine a Kentucy Derby with only 7 horses....how deflating would that be...it is hard to imagine nowadays, but there used to be plenty of times where they could not fill the derby field (anybody remember Great Redeemer?) and for most of my betting life, the field in the Derby was limited to only 12 betting interests with a six or seven ply field (anybody remember hating it when your live derby longshot got stuck in the mutuel field of also rans and getting your price killed?). On this tangent topic, anybody think there is a chance this year that Churchill downs will let the derby pari mutuel futures expand to 144 betting interests or 576 betting interests? Now that would be something to all of a sudden inject new life into the wager and bring to us suffering horseplayers at least a modicum of holiday cheer.
