Saturday's Kentucky Derby Hopefuls (OT)

Guest post by Bryan Geyer

Well, we’re on the brink of another Kentucky Derby, and this year has suddenly shifted from ho-hum to potential sensation. The three-year-old colts of this season all looked rather dreary, lacking anything special. There was no way to distinguish who might be best. Then three expensive colts registered sensational performances in disparate recent races, so there’s now some nice stuff to consider come Derby Day—and beyond.

The morning line favorite will undoubtedly be Fierceness, a handsome homebred out of Mike Repole’s stable. He’s trained by Todd Pletcher, and that New York coupling never looked better. This colt recently took Gulfstream’s Florida Derby by calmly running away from the field. Fierceness went to the front at the first turn, extended his lead on the backside, and widened the margin while coasting home, winning by 13 1/2 lengths. The horse looks absolutely super, and I’d love to see Mike win this Derby.

Then there’s Sierra Leone, a striking colt owned by multiple investors and trained by Chad Brown, one of top professionals in the sport. This colt recently won the Bluegrass Stakes, at Keeneland, in impressive fashion. He rallied from behind while being forced wide on the stretch turn, then passed the lead horse at the wire. It was a difficult win, and it was preceded by some bothersome gate antics when loading, but he clearly looked terrific in the running.

There’s also Stronghold, who just won the Santa Anita Derby, catching Bob Baffert’s favored Imagination at the finish. The latter ($450,000 as a yearling) ran well too, but Bob's horses are still not eligible at Churchill Downs. That also means that Muth, who recently won the Arkansas Derby at Hot Springs will be sidelined as well. So two more potentially promising three-year-olds that can't contend will have to wait for the Preakness.

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A personal note: It was 50 years ago (1974), when we boarded a plane to Louisville to view the classic 100th running—our last "be there" Derby. We'd missed attending the spectacular 1973 running (Secretariat), although I'm now of the opinion that the best race horse (Forego, who was injured and finished fourth) was not the winner. Hey, that's racing!

Bryan

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