6/10/2011

Come tomorrow night and I will run down the remaining horses in Saturday’s Belmont.  As it stands right now, I think Nehro is going to win and if really feels like he should dominate everyone as they turn for home.  Naturally, there are great horses that can run 1 1/4 miles and cannot go a step beyond that, Sunday Silence comes to mind, Specatcular Bid was another who just wasn’t nearly as good past 1 1/4 as he was going out to a the 1 1/4 distance.  So we really never know for certain, but Nehro’s rate of speed past the 1 mile mark seems way better than anyone elses and he should be able to cruise on out.    As for Animal Kingdom and Shackleford, I love Shackleford to beat AK.  The list of reasons is so very long, but the best of all the reasons is Shack is almost certainly loose speed and just a couple of weeks ago, after battling Flashpoint through intense early fractions, he was CLEARLY THE STRONGER HORSE at and through the wire.   Animal Kingdom made up a ton of ground, but was SOL in the final stages, as the two past under the wire, Shackleford was starting to move away again….  HOWEVER,  they are both vulnerable going 1 1/2 miles especially considering they have been through the Triple Crown Mill.  The same mill that left champions such as Alysheba wobbly in the stretch…  Tune back tomorrow and we can talk about Santiva, Brilliant Speed, Prime Cut and the balance — who knows, mayber we can come up with a very nice trifecta!