Best individual performance by a Derby horse this year
 

I'd be curious to hear what you guys think was the best effort in '07 by a runner pointing to the Derby...and why.

Does Street Sense's Juvenile count? :)

I'd say Great Hunter's Lewis and Street Sense's Tampa Bay Derby (by proxy, AGS's TBD too)

I thought Circular Quay's performance in the Risen Stars Stakes was
unbelievable to finish 5th after jumping James Graham and his horse to run
on that well at the end

i'd say street sense in the tampa bay derby, or nobiz in the wood


nobiz because he ran straight and finally seemed to grow up, he turned down any given saturday who alot of ppl loved going into the wood, and he also held off a fresh challenge from sightseeing, i know the time was not very fast but to me thats ok because i dont think he has peaked yet and i think he has alot of talent that we hopefully see in the derby



street sense because it was first off of a long layoff, on a track he had never ran over vs a horse who was fitter and had a race over the track, now i dont know how everyone feels about street sense, since any given saturday came back to run so poorly, but i still think his tampa bay derby was a big time effort

Curlin in the Rebel. He made the competition look like a pack of turds with nubs for legs.

But Robbie will find a way to eliminate any chance of this horse having a shot at winning the Derby. Book it.

A quirky track many horses don't care for either, to boot.

yes

what about you ? who do you think had the best effort so far ?

i agree with both of your statements he looked great in the rebel he won very easily, and i would not trust robbie

Scat Daddy FOY.

Had a heck of a tough run and still won. I dont care about the numbers. I thought the horse was done on the turn home, he felt the whip early, I thought he was done and he just kept coming. Suprised the crud out of me that he had enough left after that trip.

I did not respect nearly enough until this race.

I agree here too on principle. Visually, Daddy has impressed me greatly his last two out -- but I just can't disregard the figs that seem to say he can't win.

And I will let him prove me wrong.

Sometimes I just got to give in and give credit to a horse who knows how to win. I never have liked him. Just seems to get the job done. Respect from me now. And I still think Street Sense, Great Hunter, and Nobiz are the horses to beat in the Derby at this point even though Nobiz took a fall in my eyes after the Wood. Cant relax.

took a fall ? it was first time blinkers, im sure from now to the derby he will be trained to relax, i dont see how if you liked him before the wood that you dont like him alot more now. he might actually offer the value, if street sense wins again this weekend he will be chalk if great hunter runs big he could be second choice, all of pletchers horses will take some money, and i think you could get 7-1 on nobiz.

Why wouldn't he be trained to relax with them BEFORE the Wood? He took a hit in my eyes too -- I never liked him a bunch for the Derby anyway, but it's going to take one hell of a turnaround for him and his behavior to factor in on Derby Day.

No Biz improved tremendously in the stretch run in the wood from the stretch run in the FOY. Looked pretty damned relaxed fending off the challenge from AGS and whoever that clunker was that passed AGS.

well said, like the great jerry bailey said this horse has a explosion in him and im hoping we see it on derby day

We are getting off the original topic so I will say this:

I think the horse has a great deal of talent and is physically awesome. But he does not know how to relax and he has had more than enough time to fix this. He did run straighter but he was alone on the lead close to the rail (no horse between him and the rail, possibly his comfort zone). He uses way too much energy early on, no fast efficiency ala Smarty jones.

Bottom line: He will cook himself in the Derby. He will be right in the mix on the turn home and he will die in the stretch imo.

Just watched the video again. Corny V was standingup sitting back in his stirrups trying to save Nobiz. He uses way too much early on, way too much. Cant relax. If he could run relaxed during the first part of a race, awesome.

Good question because this year in particular seems devoid of impressive performances. a few that impressed me,

Street Sense - pretty solid return effort.
Curlin - second race looked damn good and very professional
Ketchikan - not that it matters now, showed speed and stamina.



For overrated performance I would say Circular Quay in the LaD, they don't set up any better than that, was allowed to loaf early on.

what will your wager be? $5,000 across the board?

I guess I would add Great Hunter's Bob Lewis win to my impressive list.