First Impressions of the Derby Field

The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow!!

And I haven't read a lick up yet on any of the horses starting. I've been so caught up with Badminton and Rolex eventing goodness that my horse racing passion has taken a backseat. Normally I'm busy following all the prep races throughout the spring like the Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Santa Anita, etc. But, thanks to working full time, chemistry, and my discovery of EventingNation.com (<< best site ever by the way) horse racing hasn't exactly been my list of priorities.

I now how a little more than 24 hours to review the entries for the Derby set to run tomorrow!! Yikes!

And of course work doesn't allow me to download Past Performances from anywhere cuz it's a PDF file... grrrrrrr

That said, from what info I CAN find about these horses and their history (thank you equibase.com and horseracingnation.com), I really want to like Archarcharch, he won the Arkansas Derby, however he's drawn post position #1... bugger! Buuuut he's won with a come from behind style, so this may not be such a hindrance to him after all, and it might benefit, because technically he has the shortest distance to run to the wire.

The current favorite, Dialed In, is the favorite because of obvious reasons. Mostly, because he's never finished worst than second. That's not bad. Out of 7 career starts, he's won 5 times. He won the Grade I Florida Derby beginning of April, and drew post position #8. For him, that is excellent. I think he DOES have a good chance of winning, hence him being the favorite.

If him and Archarcharch had their post positions reversed I think they would be switched as far as who the favorite would be. Apparently Arch (I'm already getting sick of typing that word multiple times lol) has been training really well and is super fit and ready to go. So... this could be interesting.

Really though, it's a very wide open field. Another year of several mediocre colts, and I don't say that lightly. Yes, these horses are winning, but against who? I've seen a couple really close calls for the Triple Crown, some heartbreakingly and agonizingly close (Real Quiet, aaauugh!), but this year, I don't see a colt that can win all three... at least, not yet. Barbaro could have I think, he showed a lot of promise, but we all know how that story ended unfortunately.

Anyway! Back to the field... I normally pick a long-shot winner, dunno yet who, I'll have to read over the PPs later today and make my pick. That, and the odds will change so drastically between now and tomorrow afternoon.

Finally, my favorite NAME pick has got to be Pants On Fire. LOVE IT