A ROTW generating discussion in the midst of Derby season! Glad to see the board is still alive! I have to shoot down a 1-9 shot right now Bob.....while no one will believe this, I have never even tried/used/consumed/or been accidentally contaminated by drugs in my life so my UA would come back CLEAN except for some occasional alcohol residue. Now that's another story.......Heinken's at Sar are looking really nice right about now!!

It seems the Becker barn has their horses out partying at night batting 44% at the Hawthorne meet. His only graded stakes I'm aware of from memory is Hogy's G3 win in the Hanshin at Arlington in '15. At 1 1/8 miles I just can't see a Kanthros horse taking it as Becker's best work is with sprinters. SLG's last was in a four horse field and he was 30 cents on the dollar. I liked him at OP three back as a TG lurker could confirm but I can't see it today.

I prefer Stand and Cheer of the Becker entries as Warrior's Club and Resiliency would both be contenders in this race. But his ceiling is underneath. Victor Santiago rides St. Louie Guy which is Becker's go to guy but Emigh has long been there in Chicago for the Becker charges. If you are curious, William Stiritz the owner of Becker's horses, owns Fairmount Park and Becker has only trained for Stiritz after learning under Terry Gestes who likely would have trouble flying airplanes........ Anyway, Becker is a monster Blues fan, a pretty good guy about sharing thoughts on his horses, and would be telling the Sharks and Rangers fans on the board to shove it although P-Dub would be nervous about me personally as I don't really enjoy hockey. My guess is Becker would say both horses are doing well and he is taking a shot here.

Robby comes in to ride Hollywood Handsome as his only mount of the day. I see a foward move coming off the 7.5's coming in out of the Girvin-won La Derby. I also see Hedge Fund as a light use like TreadHead but I won't dial up any win tickets with him at what will certainly be a short price. Mr. Misunderstood beat Don't Split Tens who is a well thought of 3yo turfer for a guy from Fairmount and Mr Misunderstood beat him by 9 in the off the turf event. It was impressive enough for Cox to place this one here on dirt also off of 7's. Those are the three I'll focus in on below plus FrankD's Walsh/Graham horse.

If you put a gun to my head and said find me a winner on this card and connect it to the Ill Derby, I would dial up the All button in Ill Derby with the 3, PURGING THE STONE, in the daily double, then a stronger punch with #1, #2, #6 and the #7 with the 3. Then one last punch 2, 6, and 7 with 3. The 3 in the sixth is the best horse at Fairmount Park these days, won a stakes as a 2yo at Haw, should love the 6.5 furlongs, and there is a monster amount of speed for him to run at (1,2,4,5,6,7 have all shown shown speed in their last race or two). I'll know from his exercise rider later on if he is cranked for this later today. I buy him a beer from time to time and he gives me some inside scoop from time to time, an upstate NY move I learned after my Travers trip last year. At 12-1, he is my play today at Haw assuming I hear a good report. I'll save with an exacta underneath the 5 as the only speed that can put away the rest and possibly hold my horse from winning. The result certainly isn't etched in stone but I see #3 as a certain exacta finisher at solid odds and potential winner.

Best of luck today.

PS-Bullard's Alley is an interesting horse at Kee if you are dreading the "Good" or "soft" turf who relishes the longer marathon distances. 20-1 on the M/L and you will definitely want him to hit your exacta or tri if he doesn't pull off the upset. I would have been at Keeneland today to play today's cash tourney followed by Thunder in Louisville tonight but the 51 degrees and certain rain keeps me at Fairmount Park. I'm certain Clifton Park is much, much nicer.......