Horse Racing Blog Posts by Big Daddy No Bucks

The Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby created as many questions as it did answers. At this time, Eskendereya definitely appears to be the horse to beat. Sydney's Candy won the pace less Santa Anita Derby commandingly even after stumbling out of the gate, but can he win a race with a demanding pace? And then there is Lookin At Lucky...He just can't seem to stay out of trouble, or possibly its jockey Garrett Gomez who can't keep Lookin At Lucky out of trouble.

While there may be a 3 year old that can beat Eskendereya out there I don't believe its in the six horse field for tomorrow's Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Eskendereya's run in the Fountain of Youth (see below) was very impressive. He left a field that included Jackson Bend and Ice Box in the dust. If any of the five horses challenging Eskendereya in the Wood can race with Eskendereya it looks to me to be Awesome Act. Unfortunately there's no money to be made in betting either Eskendereya or Awesome Act, so I'll be betting on Schoolyard Dreams as a spoiler.

The 3-28/29-20 races didn't rock my list of of Derby hopefuls. Only the 10th horse in my watch list changed. With the exception of Endorsement's surprise win in the Sunland Derby the weekend's races were lackluster at best. Endorsement beat the popular derby hopefuls Tempted to Tapit and Conveyance going away. The DRF gave the spoiler Endorsement a Beyer Speed Figure of 101 as well (second only to Eskendereya). As a result Discreetly Mine gets the boot and Endorsement takes the number 10 slot on my short list.

We're about 6 weeks from the 2010 Kentucky Derby, so its time to wade through the derby hopefuls and start whittling down crowd to a few possible winners. Given all the major races between now and the Derby and the possibility of injuries taking some of my picks out of the running this list will shrink and change considerably right up to Derby day. I'll post my most recent version of my short list every Friday up to race day.