Just saw that, homie. All the winners from this weekend prove what a freak Big Red is, huh? Promises Fulfilled, Hofburg, Tenfold and Good Magic all proved their worth, but at the same time, vindicated Justify. When Good Magic pulled away today, I told my wife "Sharkey gotta be lovin' this shit!" Haha, and she was like "wtf is a Sharkey?!?" Lol Sherbros.......
Anyways, brother, great day for the sport! I like Accelerate in the Breeders Cup Classic, but Good Mag is up there!
Yeah, it was an interesting weekend for sure for the 3 year-old division, although there wasn't a single surprise to be seen with all the races being ran to form. Promises Fulfilled might have been the most impressive of the bunch, though, with him showing an added dimension stalking just behind a wicked fast pace and then still having enough left late to draw away and win by daylight over some nice sprinters. He's going to be really tough to beat in the King's Bishop on Travers day. Hofburg was impressive too, although he didn't beat anything in his race. But that was a powerful run by him going around the others on the outside on a day when their was an extreme inside speed bias at the track.
The Jim Dandy was underwhelming for me. Tenfold won and there were positives from his effort. But the way he drifted out in the stretch and tried to give the race away was definitely concerning. Can't be doing stuff like that in a race like the Travers, and he really shouldn't be doing that at this point in his career anyways. That lack of focus late shows he still has issues with immaturity. I made a casual win bet on Tenfold that race and for a second or two I thought my bet was screwed. Vino Rosso kinda stunk I thought. He looked completely disinterested for most of the race and only did a bit of running late when the pacesetters got as tired and slowed a bunch. He basically just clunked up, but then again, it was likely just being used a prep race in the classic sense for him. I'd expect better out of him in the Travers, although that is a much tougher race and a tougher field that he faced on Saturday. Flameaway you can't knock. But he's Flameaway, who generally does show up and gives a game effort. But he's also Flameaway who's just not as good and as classy as a bunch in this crop. The Jim Dandy came back slow on the beyer scale (92, 93-ish), which it should have considering it was a pretty lackluster race. Hofburg got a 100 BSF in comparison.
You can't knock Good Magic either. He's a good horse who sat a good trip all around the track and ran a typical good race for him. He did was he was supposed to do, I guess, when against 2nd tier competition like Bravazo, Lone Sailor, and Core Beliefs. Haha, tell your wife I said hello. Honestly, though, I didn't really feel anything watching the Haskell. I didn't play the race at all, so no betting rooting interest for me. It was just kinda ho-hum for me, meaning the race was basically ran like it was supposed to be ran. I didn't see anything in the Haskell that would make me excited to be for or against Good Magic in the Travers.
Saying all this, if the Travers was tomorrow I'd be picking Hofburg. I've long felt that this was the upside horse out of this year's crop and that he had a big G1 race with his name on it coming to him a some point. The Derby and even the Belmont may have been a little too early for him in his development cycle. But I have a feeling that now is the time for him. You do have to respect the consistency, talent and especially the class of Good Magic, though. Tenfold can still be dangerous in the Travers too if internal or external factors finally allow him to run a complete race, which he really hasn't done so far. Gonna be quite interesting.