I would highlight that I think Smarty actually proves the point about pedigree instead of contradicting it

Smarty ran his top going a 1 1/16. He ran 3.75 negative two races before the Derby

both his final prep at 1 1/8 and his Derby at 1 1/4 were "off" races at 1.75 negative

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, it's ok if you might have distance limitations if you are so much faster than the others to begin with but that's not the case for any of them this year

And before anyone says "what about Funny Cide" he a) didn't run a new top in the Derby which this years winner will almost certainly have to do given how tightly grouped the numbers are, and b) he didn't run the fastest race in the Derby. Empire Maker ran a full point faster

I think both Smarty and Funny Cide contribute to the body of evidence that it's tough to assume that a horse that doesn't have the pedigree will move forward in the Derby