g'mornin' y'all!
last trio to look at ... coupla loooongshots, and a decent priced closer - start with the long plays:
Market King - the gray beard special! connections (D.Wayne , Court) are a combined 473 yrs old
(ok, closer to 140, but ya get the drift)
anyways, only purpose i see this cat serving is to help the early pace - had his career best run while hitting 3rd in the Rebel (
Omaha/Game Winner), but that career best was still 8 lengths back of the top two heavy duty Derby timber colts in front of him ... came back 3 weeks later and chucked an absolute #### effort in the Bluegrass - if he gets a top 10 call in the stretch i'll #### twinkies.
Everfast - yeah, he's not
longest shot on the board, and rightfully so - ran a respectable second in the Holy Bull, then mixed it up with the crop heavyweights in the F.o.Y. and Fla. Derby ... nothing spectacular outta him in those class jumps - has one win, was in his first career start (a 7f sprint) - that's where he belongs.
Laughing Fox - now we get a bit interesting with one who loves coming off the pace ... 20/1 ml on a horse Asmussen claimed after his debut. knocked around Oaklawn all season, got himself gates at the Reb and Ark Derby ... nothing noteworthy, even finished behind Market King in the former
so, why is he interesting? because i loved what i saw in
the Oaklawn Invitational - a very hot early pace laid down by some true tomato cans, but this cat rallied like a champ, and really dug in down the stretch ... pace petered out late, but he took care of the biz at hand - nice tuneup for a race that will prolly play similar tomorrow ... 'cept the tomato cans from Oaklawn will be replaced by some top notch horse flesh - big jump in class from his last, but he's been around similar previously, albeit with diminished returns.
coming off a career best effort, i'm a suckah for deep closers in a speed class field - verrrrrry slim to none chance of this one on top, but he is a live longy down the rest of the exotic spreads.