Epicenter, marks himself as the fav in the Kentucky Derby…
Steve Asmussen appears to have the chalk for the KD in Epicenter, who rated kindly, showing he didn’t need the lead to run a winning race. Epi seems to be learning all the lessons a horse needs to know to be truly successful going through the Triple Crown. Having sharp early speed is a great asset, especially if the horse doesn’t use it! Today, there were others with plenty of “early-lick” so he just tucked in 3rd, followed them around the track, then when it was time, he wheeled out of the pocket, straightened and opened up his stride. It was a beautiful move!
It’s now two successive races he has run through the lane to win, looking both impressive and quite beautiful.
However, keep in mind, in both his last 2 races, the track was tilted toward his style, as in both cases the track was playing to the rail and very favorable to early speed… Note, the fabulous filly, Echo Zulu won a most desperate photo… only because she also had the advantage of both the rail bias and the early speed bias… At least that is the opinion of this handicapper!
So as far as Epicenter is concerned, it would be my preference to see him go into the KD after having run “against the bias” of the track… so he will be both a beautiful favorite while also being a “vulnerable” favorite… They are never perfect as the favorite ( at least in this location ), but he is still a beautiful moving horse… with plenty of big wins in his future…
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As my Mom would say, “there is nothing more exciting than watching my $2 bucks run!”