Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Big weekend of racing. Who do you like out there?
Was hoping you were going to break it all down for us, big chief.
Hard not to go with the million dollar horse, Tapwrit, who showed a nice late kick to finish just behind McCracken in the Sam F. Davis. But I think this is kind of a race where the top horses are all evenly matched, where you should look for value, not the short price Tapwrit is going to offer.
That said, this is a race that Pletcher has been very strong in. Both of his horses, with Sonic Mule being the other, would be good choices in any tri-fecta. Beyond that, I like No Dozing's pedigree, sired by Union Rags, who should embrace the distance in coming from a Belmont Stakes winner. With the view that he might be able to stretch it out this time, I kind of like my guy, Mark Casse's horse, State of Honor, who has the speed to be on or near the pace the entire trip. I read an article, in which Casse said State of Honor is a "very fast horse. I don't think he would be so complimentary, if it weren't true.
The wild card is Wild Shot. Because of a bad trip, he supposedly ran six lengths farther than McCracken in the Sam Davis and still finished fourth.
Don't know enough about Beasley. There's no video of him. Basha is interesting with the "hot" Uncle Mo and Indian Charlie pedigree. But he's lightly run and not in stakes class.