The Holy Bull-Analysis and Picks

Little time to cap today as I am headed for an epic college basketball battle between Loyola Chicago and Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale, my beloved alma mater, at Loyola’s Gentile Center.

Wow…..Looks like a nice race on paper despite 3/5 ML favorite Classic Empire’s undefeated career.

#3 Classic Empire….. The early Derby favorite? Four for Four in his career, the little bro of American Pharaoh (Pioneer of the Nile) looks plenty ready despite layoff since his win in the BC Juve last November. Excellent and steady work, trainer Casse has prepped him well for the TC campaign. Leparoux maestros this guy and that could be a factor in the final furlong.

Can Classic Empire be beaten?

Here are the potential upsetters:

#1 Gunnevera……Javier Castellano rides for semi-known trainer, Antonio Sano, the colt has a nice late kick with his big hope to run down the favorite in the last jump. A tough task, but doable. Off a rail post that is 40% wins at the meet. The lad has been off since November, but very sharp work and needs pace.

#6 Fact Finding…..Out of underrated The Factor, there is a ton to like for Todd’s charge. Johnny V straddles the leather, so you know Pletcher is serious. Two straight wins against not-so-terrific talent, but some brilliance is evident. Typical Pletch move where he takes his semi-“A” players and puts them in spots to elevate them to “A+’s.” Take a real look-see at 6-1 ML.

#4 Talk Logistics…..Look at his last work…..stellar; trainer Plesa is a Florida sharpie who always enters good ones during the campaign; potentially, the boy wins with a boffo closing kick…..but in tough with others at the end. Don’t dismiss for a decent piece at 12-1 ML for the FLA bred. Paco Lopez manning the strap is a plus.

My picks:

#3 Classic Empire……To win. Tis guy is the goods and they’ll need to catch him at the end, but tad of evidence that he could be taking on a bit of air at the finish.

$12 exacta:  3/1,4,6

$4 exacta: 1,4,6/3

Huge upset #5 Irish War Cry the New Jersey bred son of Curlin wins

Classic Empire looked very much out of sorts and washed out in the gate

5-1-3-4

Foot abscess discovered in Classic Empire 48 hours after the Holy Bull

Hoping to get back in training tomorrow (Friday), according to trainer Casse

Not usual to ship on race day to destinations 6 hours or less. However, tis isn't a $20K Ocala sale horse. This sort of same-day shipping is done a lot in Illinois when going to Indiana or KY.

However, you would think with a Derby contender that you'd want the horse settled in the barn for at least 24 hours in such a big race. Perhaps the horse was acting odd in his home barn and they didn't want to disturb his environment...this happens a lot. Or, maybe they saw some redness but didn't think it was bad, but shipped late just in case the problem grew? Good question, Vet.