Horse Racing Blog Posts by Post Time Pete

With the final leg of the Triple Crown upon us, the horse racing community is preparing for the Nick Zito show this Saturday. Ice Box, the runner up in the Kentucky Derby, and Fly Down, winner of this year's Dwyer Stakes posted 6 and 5 respectively. They couldn't have posted much better although I doubt that matters much since both are strong closers. Even though Belmont has been known to decimate the best of horses, Fly Down has already proven he can handle it and we know Ice Box is a strong closer and will handle the distance so these two horses are hard to bet against.

There's no Triple Crown this year, but that doesn't mean the Belmont Stakes won't be enjoyable to watch. Both Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and Preakness winner Lookin at Lucky will not be running, which opens the field up for several possibilities.

The Post Position draw results for the 135th Preakness Stakes taking place this Saturday, May 15th 2010 at Pimlico Race Course didn't do much to change my original picks. I've heard some arguments for First Dude and Aikenite, but nothing compelling enough enough for me to include them in my short list. This is definitely not a great field and with everyone jumping on the Super Saver bandwagon there may not be much money to be made. However, it's hard to ignore what Super Saver and Calvin Borel are capable of, so he will definitely be in my Box tomorrow.

It's still too early to finalize my picks for the 135th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Park this Saturday, May 15th 2010. Especially since the post draw doesn't take place until this afternoon. However, I felt it would be a good time to start laying out my choices and I'll post my final list on Friday (or Saturday should my picks change).

I've been itching for the last week to post my short list for this year's Preakness but it's hard to short list any horses when only a handful have actually confirmed for the second leg of the triple crown. Watching the way Ice Box ran the Derby, I was really looking forward to seeing him run in the Preakness and probably would have listed him as my favorite. Unfortunately, trainer Nick Zito announced Ice Box would not be running in the Preakness and would be resting for the Belmont. It wasn't a total surprise move since this horse seems to do better on longer rest, but what a rematch it would been.

Last week I assumed my field of 5 was set and I wouldn't be making any changes before the Road to the Roses. This week makes last week seem so very far away. Eskendereya dropped out due to injury, turning the field upset down. Endorsement is also out with an injury, eliminating another possible contender. Lookin at Lucky drew post position 1 and while that position has launched twelve Kentucky Derby winners, I have to question whether Garret Gomez on Lookin at (Not So) Lucky will be one of them. Finally, my personal favorite, Sidney's Candy drew pos position 20 which has only launched two winners in the history of the Derby.

Nothing new this week, but we're only a week away! I've re-thought some of my picks and changed my list up slightly. Stately Victor now falls to #6, which puts him off my list for now. Lookin At Lucky slides up to #4 and is back in my top 5. I know he's fast, my concern with him is whether he'll be able to break through a field of 20 horses.

There's a long shot running in the Kentucky Derby this year that brings a smile to Joe Torre's face. His name is Homeboykris and as of this writing, he's running at 60 to 1 odds. That doesn't faze Torre though. "Just taking part of the Derby is pretty special and who the hell knows what's going to happen," he said.

This week I've whittled my Kentucky Derby short list down to five contenders. This year's Derby has a great field and I can see this going many ways, but if this past weekend's races (Blue Grass and Arkansas Derby) were any indication, a few horses are showing great improvement while others are falling behind the pace or not moving at all.

After spending the last two weeks gibing Big Daddy No Bucks on his short list for the Kentucky Derby winner hopefuls, I've been challenged to come up with a list of my own. I have to admit, I haven't had much luck at handicapping graded stakes races like the Kentucky Derby. Every horse that runs in the Derby is a good horse and while there may be certain horses that "stand out" on a good day, any one of them can win.