Juvenile Turf

[albany]

Can a colt jump from a nw2L to a Grade 1 and win?

If think Banned can do it. You can catch his last race on Youtube where he rated kindly behind the speed, went 3 wide in hand and drew off impressively. His successive quarters were 25;  25 1/5;  24 3/5 and  23 1/5. Those are some flashy numbers for a 2yo close-up stalker racing on a dull course. Banned\'s running style fits this race since there is a decided lack of early speed.

[what about bob]

Do you make anything of Gomez riding Pluck instead of Banned, besides the Pletcher factor?

Also regarding this race...am I crazy in thinking Rough Sailing is sitting on an 0-2-X and might run huge today?

[albany]

I would have liked Gomez to have stayed with Banned. However, I\'m not overly concerned that he went to Pletcher\'s horse. As a young public handicapper years ago, I asked Russ Harris about jockey decisions of this nature. He advised me to not waste time thinking about jockey decisions because there are a lot of deals cut on the backstretch and jockey agents often make the wrong move.

In my view, Rough Sailing has a chance as a deep underneath play. However, he hasn\'t proven much on the turf.

Good luck.