Blah Blah Blahg

Down and Derby

It's four days until my favorite day of the year and I haven't even started looking at horses yet!

Here are my initial thoughts on the contenders for the 135th running of Kentucky Derby:

General Quarters -- Never heard of his owner. The jockey is really strong but has yet to bag a Triple Crown (but who can hold that against him). GQ's wins have been inconsistent but I'm not willing to write him off just yet. Depending on how the horse likes the track this could be a surprise win. I wouldn't put him far outside of placing either.

Pioneer of the Nile -- Undefeated in all of his races, all of them in California. Trained by Bob Baffert and this is his only horse in the mix so far (where is Nick Zito this year?). Ridden by Garrett Gomez. Some people are saying the horse is too young and inexperienced to race but I think Baffert knows what's best.

Hold Me Back -- The only reason I'm considering this guy is because he's being ridden by Kent Desormeaux who rode last year's Derby (and Preakness) winner Big Brown. He's ridden 3 derby winners and he's the most focused rider I've ever had the opportunity to watch in action. He's one of my favorite jockeys.

Flying Private -- I will never not consider a D. Wayne Lukas horse. This horse is not a favorite, not by a long shot, but I want to see this horse run before I make any predictions. I have a lot of faith in the four-time Derby winning trainer and his choice of jockey, Robby Albarado

Musket Man -- Don't know enough about him yet but I don't want to take him out of consideration just yet.

Chocolate Candy -- People are talking about this horse and I like Mike Smith. He wouldn't ride a horse he didn't know could win.

I Want Revenge -- Looks like an early favorite and is ridden by a very young up-and-comer, Joe Talamo (he's 19). Talamo is totally fearless and wants this win badly.

Dunkirk -- One of Todd Pletcher's 4 horses in this race and one of the only ones to have a confirmed rider, Edgar Prado. The Hall of Famer is going to have a lot to deal with as this horse is relatively inexperienced. Looks strong though.

Regal Ransom and Desert Party -- I'm not shutting out the UAE horses just yet. Lord knows they are serious racers out there.

Ok so believe it or not, but that's my narrowed down list (cut it down to half the field, I'm so bad at this haha). I'll look over my picks some more tomorrow and try and cut this list down by half and so on and so forth until the big day.

posted by Bagel @ 2:32 PM