RACE 5........#2 THIRD HALF.......gelding is coming off of an impressive score for 40k and gets a fair amount of speed to shoot at going a mile on the turf. Hoping the 4,5,6 gun for the lead and set this up for Frankel. Not crazy about the jock , but 5-2 seems likely........RACE 6 #12 GHAZIRELLA .....Woodbine shipper coming off a layoff, but has enough back class to run w/ these, should be a big price here , and if ready off the layoff, will be right there.......RACE 8 #7 ST. AVERIL ........colt seems to be peaking at the right time for Becerra. Was getting to PREACHINATTHEBAR in his last and ran good enough to win, extra 1/8 of a mile should suit his style well. Only concern would be whether Becerra has him cranked ALL the way for this , or is saving something for the first SAT. in May .......got him at 27-1 in future pool 2 and think this guy is a legit contender for the roses ........
THIRD HALF ..........chased early, moved into contention at the top of the stretch and had no response from there.......GHAZIRELLA attended the pace and had nothing to offer when the real running began. Looked for all the world like a horse in need of a race, dont give up on too soon as this horse will make some noise soon, most likely on the stretchout next time.............st averil..........was three wide on the first turn and remained there most of the way. When he was asked for some run on the backstretch, he utterly refused. Three year olds can be tempremental at times and it's common to see some throw in a clunker once in a while. Although I am thouroughly mystified as to why this horse didnt show up Sat., I am not about to give up on this guy yet. If he has to throw in a stinker, I'm glad it was the first Sat. in APRIL, not May. Three year olds develop rapidly, and 30 days is a long time , relatively speaking, so i'm gonna give him a mulligan THIS time.....remember, a horse is never as good as he looked in a big win (usually) and never as bad as in a horrible loss........this guy has shown too much consistency throughout his short career to believe this race is represenative of his chances in Louisville in May ........I liked him before this stinker, and I like him now. One big upside here, the price on race day will def. be square after this stinker, as will the price on ANY of the contenders in what is shaping up as one WILD ,WIDE OPEN , run for the roses !!!!!
