"HIGH FLY: The knocks are his lack of a race in the last 60 days (no horse has won with this sort of spacing since 1956)and the fact that he has only competed over two tracks, Calder and Gulfstream. To me the biggest knock is the ease with which he won his races (basically perfect tripped in each win.) What is the likelihood of a perfect trip in a 20 horse field?"

RB..

Don't you agree that High Fly "perfect trips" because he has the kind of turn of foot that prevents bad trips..? And though I'm no fan of Bailey, I doubt he puts High Fly in any position that results in having to avoid a front runner that is backing up abruptly.. (Perfect trip winners among stalker-closers worry me coming into the Derby..)

As to racing exclusively at CRC/GP, the horses exiting the Gulfstream winter have been head and shoulders above everything from any other part of the country so far (except Afleet Alex), and High Fly should be no exception.

Finally, after running four times in 100 days Jan-Apr (8f, 9f-3x), this 35 day break looks like a terrific intermezzo for High Fly to me. In the hands of Zito, I have much less of a concern about the layoff than I would many other conditioners..