My cohorts of Brad Lystra (aka tower defense) and Dave Hoffman (aka the hoffinator) joined me this weekend to absorb beer, basketball, and a derby prep in the Florida Derby. We chased a few bets including a superfecta riding on Rule to win with several horses under him. Rule finished 3rd with a fairly impressive come-from-last victory by Ice Box. Every handicapper needs a narrative of how they think the race will play and we were pretty close this weekend in our thinking that the race would unfold with a fast pace that would wear out Rule and Miner’s Revenge. What we couldn’t figure out was who would catch them… Barbaro’s untested brother? (finished 4th) Rick Pitino’s slow and steady Soaring Empire (didn’t finish in the money) or maybe Pleasant Prince who was steadily improving? Well the Prince paid a nice price to place, but it was Ice Box who never really showed up on our pre-race radar. And with that, he’s now a derby contender on everyone’s radar.
I think it’s fair to say none of the Florida Derby participants will make a good showing over the Churchill Downs track come the first Saturday of May, and I doubt we’ll see many of them. Pleasant Prince does get better race by race but this was a slow stretch in the Florida Derby and I have to think the elite horses will carry the day and not any from this group.
superfected 
horses, horses, horses . . . blogging about horses.
tower d’s stereo acumen is still paying dividends in my apartment.