For years my regional bias has prevented me from embracing California horses in the Derby. The last time I liked left coasters was actually in 1980, when I thought Rumbo and Jaklin Klugman could take it to a pair of bad favorites, Plugged Nickle and Rockhill Native, which they did; unfortunately, they ran 2nd and 3rd behind Genuine Risk.

This year it was almost like I bet the Derby like a March Madness pool. I thought the Cal horses were from the strongest "conference". The performances of 2 of the "teams" when they left the conference, Bob and John and Sinister Minister, were winning ones. My wiseguy angle was to toss out the "top seed", Brother Derek.

Another tough year. Another "maiden" trainer winning the Derby (a very deserving one). Another non effort by a brace of horses from a Derby training legend (Baffert) (amazing that Zito went from 5 entrants in 05 to none in 06, a bad year of recruiting).

Also tough from a numbers standpoint, with 7 or 8 of the 20 runners seemingly capable of running a number fast enough to win.

I hope we have a Triple Crown candidate coming out of Baltimore. Racing (and New York racing) could use the boost





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2006 02:32AM by richiebee.