If you are looking for a Derby future book play, Domestic Dispute may be a good one. In my view, he has an almost perfect 2yo sheet. He never went back, had plenty of 2yo seasoning (6 races), never made a big jump (ignoring his first start) and had the perfect 2yo top for a Derby horse: Not to fast (to date, no Derby winner has run under a 6 TG fig as a 2yo) and not too slow (given the 6.75 2yo top, he definitely has the potential to improve enough to get down to a potential Derby winnning fig, which lately has been in the -1 to +1 range).

I will assume that he improved a couple of points in his recent win probably to something in the 4-5 range (I would be interesting in knowing what fig he earned), which sets him up nicely for his final 2 or 3 preps before the Derby.

He also has good breeding and has shown he can rate and will probably get better as the distances increase.

His connections are obviously a plus but he has still managed to fly under the radar despite the connections thanks to his stablemates that have stolen the spotlight. Domestic Dispute may be another Real Quiet in the making.

Of all the contenders to this point, I would peg him as one of the best future book values.

I would be interested in hearing other opinions on the early Derby contenders. In particular, the less obvious ones.

Chris