ROTW

[aceriley63]

Good work, and thanks for that one.

[Michael D.]

Excellent. Got most of the 6-1 too.

A pretty solid 6.20 final 1/16 from HTG (12.37 final 1/8).

[miff]

Perfect set up in front of him.

[Wrongly]

Miff

Don\'t be so quick to trash this horse.  Granted I don\'t know if he wants any part of 1 1/4 but I really liked this horse before I saw the race of the week.  He\'s a half to Mani Bhavan, who broke her maiden by 9 ¼-lengths going five furlongs in career debut at Delaware.  She followed that by winning the Grade I Spinaway Stakes and the Grade II Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.  Was never the same as a 3-year old, maybe too fast too soon.  HtG is also half to Settle for Medal 18 Starts: 3 - 2 - 3, $136,716 and Datt Echo 14 Starts: 2 - 1 - 3, $107,485  Pedigree leans towards speed but I like the Ghostzapper on top and the only question is how far this one will go.  The bonus was watching an over hyped Drug Oniel horse spit the bit!  Another small forward move makes this one very playable on the first Saturday in May.

[Tavasco]

I liked and agreed with the analysis. What I didn\'t understand was how he had traffic problems when there was only one other in the same zip code heading down  the stretch. He just seemed awkward and slow until mid-stetch when he looked a beast like his sire.

Appears he\'ll get better with distance and/or grass. My guess is Hollendorfer would enjoy some purchase offers.

The two speed balls don\'t seem capable of going on so like falling sky and others they take their derby qualifying points out of the game. I think the system is suspect? The late starting/developing horses should get an auction/lottery chance for points earned by injured/off-the-trail horses.

[P-Dub]

Wrongly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Miff
>
> Don\'t be so quick to trash this horse.  

He was only stating the truth.  Great pace set up for a closer.

[miff]

Wrong,

No knock on the winner but Flashback did all the running and came back late after being contested on the front end in fast fractions.Winner and Tiz A Minister were beneficiaries of perfect dynamics, both way back off the far turn and never looked threatening until Flash tired last 1/16th.

Winner kinda ok,not quite displaying the talent of several top derby candidates  after 4 races but needs to step forward to be a serious contender,imo. At present,would take Flashback all day against winner with \"fair\" dynamics at yesterday\'s distance.


Mike

[FrankD.]

Mike,

Perfect set up visually and Privman in DRF calling Leparoux and Krigger
\"Comedy Central\"; also a clueless clowns quote in the articles comments.

Goldencents had worked 6f in 1:10 3 times and 6.5 furlong sprints in 1,2 & 5th with NW2L, 8 claimers and Cal Bred maidens all going .44 half\'s with conveyor belt like results.

Looked to me like an old fashioned, rock hard SA main surface yesterday where speed was king. Curious as to how TGJB rates the tracks speed for the day? The only dirt route to compare was 20 claimers who went 2 seconds slower for 6f with a similar final time.

Good luck,

Frank D.

[miff]

Hi Frank,

Track definitely fast and splits alone not as deadly as they looked.Head to head wars,like yesterday, single most defining factor in any race.Frenchie said his horse got rank and dragged him thru the hole and into battle with Krigger.Not like Frenchie to war front end,maybe Flash was rank from Baffys bullet works.Flash gets a mulligan from me for yesterday, would tap out on him vs winner if they meet in a \"fair\" fight.

Mike

[Wrongly]

Fair enough Flashback was probably compromised by the speed battle, still it shouldn\'t take anything away from the winner.  Beyer gave the race a 93; we will have to wait on JB to see what he assigns, but I\'ll guess it was another move forward for this colt.  If he indeed did move forward again, he would have a very nice looking line going into the SA Derby.

[miff]

Wrong,

Ground loss off far turn may save the fig but the race was slow relative to the day, 20 claimer ran within a length, raw with a slower pace. Final time slow due to quick pace and horses being bottomed out on the chase.

Mike

[ajkreider]

I could see the top three getting the same fig.  Tiz A Minister lightest, but widest.  Would love to see his splits.  Made up 9 lengths on the winner and 15 on Flashback in the last 5/16ths.

HTG had the better gallop out, but after a sustained run like that, I\'m not surprised Tiz was a little tired.

[Caradoc]

AJ,

FWIW, Trakus had Tiz travelling 31 fewer feet than HTG. It appeared that Gomez skimmed the rail on the first turn and most of the second turn until the tipout for home while HTG got pushed out on the first turn and was 2-3w on the second.  

So far Tiz proving to be a very good claim by the low-profile but very competent Paul Aguirre.

[ajkreider]

Thanks for that!

[Michael D.]

I would note that Bode got inhaled by Creative Cause in last year\'s San Felipe, in the same manner as Flash yesterday, only to wind up the better colt. What makes Flash difficult to handicap, at least for me, is the Mr Greeley on bottom. Below that it\'s Pleasant Colony over Nijinsky, about as good as it gets when it comes to stamina. Could go either way when it comes to heart and lung capacity.