Mike,
I agree with much of what you say here. I\'m slightly concerned that Calvin just says, \"She\'s the best horse in here.\" On paper she is, but if he rides her like much the best, she\'ll be in for a dogfight if he doesn\'t break her sharply and loses some ground on the turns.
Da Tara is a key in here, obviously hasn\'t put a race together in 2 years that would be competitive, but Zito\'s only purpose for this horse in the race is to ship him. If he\'s lost all his early lick, he\'s a waste of an entry.
The race appears to set up to really challenge Rachel. She looks like she can just run to the front against this bunch. But, it\'s unlikely these connections are going to allow her to set modest fractions since they all give weight to her.
I think the race gets interesting on the far turn. At that point, Rachel is on the lead or ready to move to the lead and then some of these old boys are making their move, I do think they will have to make an earlier move than they normally do, or she\'ll just spurt away. The 126# will probably cook a couple of them.
Other than Da Tara, I see any of the 6 others with a realistic shot at winning the race if they fire their best shot. Rachel and 5-6 older horses within a couple lengths of each other at the head of the stretch would make for a lot of excitement down the stretch.
On a related note, if Zenyatta\'s connections ever wanted to ambush Rachel, the Beldame is the place to go. This Woodward, because of the depth of the overall field, should prove a real challenge for Rachel despite her appearing superior on paper.
I\'m looking to put Rachel in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes in the superfecta and hoping she gets a fair trip with no excuses.
