Tend to think that First Samurai is this years "Officer". He was plenty fast at two and had a very fast Hutchenson, (Though perhaps not legitimately fast), but is showing definite longer race/two turn weakness.

Current belief is that he finishes beaten in the Bluegrass and doesnt make the Derby, A La Officer.

bobphilo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mike,
>
> I think the slowish early fractions would have
> contributed to a faster final time rather than the
> other way around. They still finished slower than
> they began and if they'd gone faster early, they
> would have finished even slower due to fatigue.
> I've just done a pace analysis of the race and
> will post it to my Yahoo group today. It will go
> into more detail and you can see it there.
>
>
>
> First Samurai got away with what seemed like an
> easy early lead and had he been in better form
> would have finished more strongly in much better
> time.
> I think that BOTH the slow final time and slow
> fractions were caused by either a slow track or
> slow horses (or fast horses putting in a sub-par
> performance) - or a combination of both.
>
> Bob
>