For the sake of time in the future I will just cover a maximum of five stories from the past week in my Thursday WRRB’s, that way I can actually keep up with them and hopefully post on time also.
Let’s start with the Fountain of Youth Stakes. Soldat went almost start to finish on a speed favoring track to lead To Honor and Serve into the homestretch with a comfortable lead. At the finish it was Soldat winning by two lengths over Gourmet Dinner who ran a good race to finish second. Gourmet Dinner finished more than 4 lengths ahead of To Honor And Serve after making a sustained four-wide rally from off the pace. To Honor And Serve looked nothing like his old self after chasing Soldat and El Grayling down the backside, failing to mount a serious rally of any kind.
To Honor And Serve didn’t just lose the race by coming in third, 6 ¾ lengths behind the winner, he lost the confidence of many fans as well. With only one start remaining on his schedule between now and the Kentucky Derby the colt will have to improve in a huge way to make the Kentucky Derby grade.
Soldat is now the only 3-year-old colt of the year with two big wins to his credit and while his Fountain of Youth performance was certainly not enough to make him the leading Kentucky Derby contender he has proven his worth and shown he likes a dry track.
[caption id="attachment_1183" align="alignleft" width="298" caption="Flashpoint - Coglianese Photos "]
[/caption]Flashpoint is the newest star on the block but he’s not exactly inciting Derby fever yet. Making just the second start of his young career, Flashpoint waltzed to a simply fantastic 7 ¼ length win in the 7 furlong Hutcheson Stakes (gr.2) at Gulfstream Park Saturday over a solid field of 3-year-olds. Sitting just off the pace set by race favorite Travelin Man, those two blazed through the first quarter mile in :22.16 and the half in :44.53. Into the stretch the two colts were nearly inseparable, but within seconds Flashpoint began to edge away, crossing the wire in a fabulous final time of 1:22.03.
The question now is whether or not this son of Pomeroy can successfully stretch out in distance or if he is instead a truly brilliant up-and-coming sprinter. I tend to think it’s the later.
This coming weekend of racing promises to be filled with some incredible action, Stay Thirsty will finally be making his 2011 debut just one week before the highly anticipated return of Uncle Mo, as well as a rematch between leading sophomore fillies Zazu and Turbulent Descent in the Santa Anita Oaks. [Check out my article on the Santa Anita Oaks here on Horse Racing Nation]
I was hoping to see Flashpoint and The Factor together but as it was pointed out, a million is a little too rich for GP. I don't think all these horses should be pointed to the KD....and I hate to see a spoiler go into the Preakness. Anyway, looking forward to some good racing this weekend. As nice as To Honor and Serve is, I've never really been turned on by him. Soldat put in a quality run and beat a good field, he'll be fun to watch again.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been a very interesting match up. I heard that the Florida Derby is a possible option for Flashpoint now, it sounds like his connections are curious to try for a shot at the Derby.
ReplyDeleteI was never a big To Honor And Serve fan either, after watching his races from last year he looked too vulnerable with his running style.