3 minute read
Mandarin Hero has made it into the final field.
Two of the "also eligible" have made the final field – Cyclone Mischief and Mandarin Hero. They get in following the scratching of Practical Move who has a temperature, and Lord Miles whose trainer Safee Joseph Jr has been suspended and all his runners scratched.
It seldom is a smooth road to the roses and especially so this year. However throughout all the distractions one horse has stood firm and that is the favourite, Forte, who we think is great value at 3/1. Many are saying he had a tough race in the Florida Derby but if you look carefully at the replay he was bumped a couple of times and blocked and his determined finish spoke volumes. Irad Ortiz rides for Todd Pletcher. He's by Violence whose progeny are doing very well.
Stablemate Tapit Trice (Pletcher-Saez) comes in on 5/1 on the back of a win in the Blue Grass at Keeneland but he only won by a neck from Verifying and the son of Tapit, who looks the goods, has yet to prove it in our book.
Angel of Empire, by Classic Empire, has had a bit of a rags-to-riches story and the son of Classic Empire is improving with every race, winning the Risen Star Gr 2 and the Arkansas Derby Gr 1 enroute to Kentucky. Brad Cox trains and Flavien Prat will ride and the 8/1 seems a very fair price.
And now we come to the Japanese runners who are adding the international dimension to the race with 3 making the final field. Derma Sotogake won the UAE Derby in Dubai after finishing third in the Saudi equivalent. He's by Mind Your Biscuits and will be ridden again by Chrisophe Lemaire. His quote of 10/1 may have shortened with the scratching of Practical Move but the markets haven't fully updated at the time of writing this.
Mandarin Hero made the field much to the delight of his connections and fans, of which we are a part of. He's by Shanghai Bobby and in Japan raced under the NAR banner which means he has a lot of experience on dirt tracks. He was narrowly beaten in the Santa Anita Derby and had to go on the "also eligible" list as that didn't give him enough points to get into the field under the present points system. However he made it in the end and it would be safe to say that opportunity will not be wasted. Champion Canadian-based jockey Kazushi Kimura will ride and should his present quote of 25/1 or even shorter he could be a good e/w prospect. Continuar is the third Japanese runner and while he is quite useful he was well-held by Derma Sotogake in Dubai and his trainer Yahagi-sensei doesn't like his draw and neither do we. He's on 50/1.
Another to consider is Verifying, by Justify, 14/1 for Cox-Gaffalione. He was second in the Blue Grass to Tapit Trice and only a neck away. On Thursday at track work he ditched his exercise rider and showed a preference for a d-i-y training session, as he returned to his barn without any trouble. A little bit of spirit is a good thing in a 3yo.
