ummm, maybe take the 2 longest odds and bet them underneath War Pass for an ex.

Oh quit it... you know that Dylan's Choice will walk all over this field. :D

With a 10# weight advantage you might be right.

Given that Web Gem was owned by LaPenta until a day or two ago and clearly his "sale" was simply to facilitate filling this race for War Pass, I won't be using this one on my ticket.

Show bet

:rolleyes:

I hope you realize I was kidding.

I figured, but didn't want to be laughed at when Dylan's Choice was still trying to finish this race on Monday morning.

:rolleyes:

I am sure that this is probably old news that I somehow missed, but why exactly does Zito want to run him in this spot instead of an actual race? What point does this serve?

You know, there was once a time where horses prepped in easy spots and every race wasn't a competitive stake race. There's no reason to seek out a difficult spot at this point. He will have plenty of those opportunities down the road.

I guess it doesn't really matter either way, but it seems at this point that there would be plenty of 3yo stakes races for this colt that would not qualify as either difficult or competetitve.

When i was a kid in so. cal i remember hopping a bus to Santa Anita on a rainy weekday to watch Affirmed in an "allowance" race for his 3yo debut.

It's his first start in what may well be a very demanding year. He has the advantage of being under no pressure whatsoever of having to prove himself.

Seattle Slew did the same thing.

I get that, and I get that it has been done in the past.
I guess I just don't exactly understand the point to it.
It seems to me like if Zito had announced weeks in advance that he was targeting a pretty low-level stakes race with this colt, most of the mid-level 3yos would probably have avoided that race and he could have landed himself in another very easy spot with a bigger purse than what he is seeing here.
Again, I know it doesn't really matter either way, I just don't see any real disadvantage to running in a stakes race instead.

Problem is, where can you find such a race around one turn? With the Holy Bull being turned into a Preakness prep and the Hutcheson and Swale moved really early in the racing calendar there is no such race anymore.