If you liked Saarland going in, you should be happy. He's in a position to fire his best shot at a price. Time to wait for the figures. I'm not sure what to think yet. There will be an honest pace in the Derby (as usual), so I figure that's one less thing to worry about.

As for trainer comments, do yourself a favor and stop listening. What can you draw for this? They thought the pace was slow. So what? As close to a meaningless comment as I can imagine. If you think Saarland is a one-paced plodder, nothing you saw yesterday or anything Shug said would change your mind. Looked like a fair tune-up to me. I would not expect the same result if Buddha and Medaglia do that again. HP