Great minds think alike. I look forward to the Derby every year because it usually presents a great betting situation to bet against the favorite. Looking at the Florida Derby performance of Empire Maker and knowing that breeding comes into play on the first Sat. in May makes me believe, like Chris, that he is going to be tough to beat regardless of what prep/no prep he uses. It would be interesting to look at M'doro's line from last year to see if his form held up prior to Derby. Aptitude was a late bloomer, (whom I bet on) while I bet heavily against M'Doro last year. Can't remember what his line looked like but I think he had a string of low numbers heading into the Derby that I thought he couldn't reproduce. Now, though, with the new "training method" Frankel has obviously discovered, all bets are off concerning a reaction to the numbers. Chris, do you have M'doro's line and Aptitude's line to look at? It would be interesting to compare.

Michael