Holy Bull Grade 3
- Toledo- Irad Ortiz Jr.- Chad Brown
- Toledo is a well respected horse on the derby trail to me. In his last race he had ran into traffic and had to be shuffled wide and didn’t have enough in the tank to win and ultimately lost to Ete Indien. However, I think he might want shorter so this will be a final test in order to tell what distance he prefers.
- Uncork the Bottle- Edgar Zayas- Saffe Joseph Jr.
- There is no trainer in the country more on fire that Saffe Joseph Jr. right now. This colt is shipping in from Tampa in which he ran a huge race on the turf in his turf debut. I think he is a versatile horse and might be more of a 6F to 7F horse. He has never lost in his career and with the way his trainer has been winning races, he might not lose today. Definitely a contender today.
- Tiz the Law- Manuel Franco- Barclay Tagg
- Tiz the Law is not a 3-5 shot in my opinion. I think this horse is legit but in these early preps for the Derby, I will not be touching any 3-5 shot by any means. I think the New York races in the fall of last year were surprisingly weaker than before and he is finally facing tough competitors and there have been times where Tiz the Law could of ran from then to now and he didn’t. I will be using him on horizontals but will be taking my money elsewhere for this race alone.
- Ete Indien- Luca Panici- Patrick Biancone
- Ete Indien is a horse who has already beaten some of his competition that is facing him today. He improved immensely when switching to dirt in his most previous start. He will be close to the lad today and Luca stays aboard. I always like to cheer for the smaller connections in these derby preps but today I will be cheering elsewhere. OC races just ain’t cutting it for me in this race.
- Clear Destination- Paco Lopez- Ashlee Brnjas
- I think Paco sends this horse and gets aggressive today in order to try and steal this big race. However, I think that this horse is way more of a synthetic and turf horse. Paco hasn’t been on the hottest of streaks currently either. This horse will be one of my tosses in this field but if he gets loose early, Paco might be able to steal it.
- Relentless Dancer- Jose Ortiz- Michael Maker
- Relentless Dancer is my top pick in this race. He will be coming into this race out of a Louisiana bred stakes race in which he dominated and won by 10 and a half lengths. Jose Ortiz gets the call today and should have him forwardly placed. I think the longer he goes the better he gets as well and has been working lights out at Gulfstream in the mornings.
- Mayberry Deputy- Julien Leparoux- Kenneth McPeek
- Mayberry Deputy is another toss for me but Leparoux has been heating up as of late down in Florida. Coming out of MSW races and with the far outside post with not enough speed in order to contend early, I will be looking elsewhere.
TOP PICKS
#6 Relentless Dancer
#2 Uncork the Bottle
#3 Tiz the Law