the "what if" derby
 

1) Roman Ruler~Nakatani
2) Sir Cherokee~ Thompson
3) Chapel Royal ~Johnny V.
4) Kafwain~V. Espinoza
5) Repent~ T. D'Amico
6) Buddha~P.Day
7) Vindication~M. Smith
8) Consolidator~Bejarano
9) Henny Hughes~Prado
10) Zavata~ Stevens
11) Toccet~Chavez
12) Stevie Wonderboy~G. Gomez
13) Officer~A. Solis
14) Siphonic~J. Bailey
15) WhyWhyWhy~ C. Velasquez
16) Macho Uno~ Flores
17) Cuvee~Castellano
18) Van Nistelrooy~Lanfranco
19) Siphonizer~Krone
20) Sky Mesa~Coa


not sure but I think all missed the derby, correct me if I'm wrong, feel free to add or subtract any, but I just went from 2000-to present, did not include a Street Cry, because was trying to go for horses who only had major racing success prior to their missed derby day

Hard to go against Vindication.

RH10.

But honestly, I would go with Budda out of those you listed. :)

Rock Hard I didn't include because I was trying to go for horses which never ran in any of the 3 jewels, and Rock was in the Preakness wasn't he, or was it just the Belmont, maybe both? memory fades

Preakness and Belmont.

I would still go with Budda. Was my derby pick that year.

You talking about a HOT HOT pace with WHYWHYWHY, Officer and Henny Hughes

Im gonna have to go with Macho Uno, had the ability to settle off and make a strong consistent run down the stretch.

Repent and Vindication would of been the other choices for 2nd, 3rd. Also if Repent had matured by that May he would also been a contender learning to switch leads

Sir CHerokee. He was my Derby 2003 pick prior to the scratch and under Terry Thompson he will win at a huge price!!!

First Samurai

I like the Cherokee. Just my boy Cherokee Run. ;)

Macho doesn't seem to fit with these
he was a pretty decent older horse
as where the others never got a chance to be
may have to remove him
perhaps with the infamous, Soto
my favorite race of PG's was the BC Juv
that last quarter was freakish
almost nipping the Macho One

Have to go with Vindication if we are talking about the race being at 10f. He was by Seattle Slew and out of a graded stakes-winning daughter of Strawberry Road. SR won all kinds of G1 races at 2400m and 10f, and we all know about Seattle Slew. Vindication was extremely talented on the track, and, unlike some of these, he had the pedigree to run all day.

Question: Why did you include Roman Ruler but leave out Declan's Moon? Considering that Declan's Moon was the undefeated 2yo champ - and he beat Roman Ruler in the process - he seems more deserving to me.

Good question.

I think Vindication is very overrated, he beat nothing in the Kentucky Cup and took advantage of a speed bias at Arlington...

With horses that ran this infrequently it is always difficult to know where they should be rated. In the BC Juvenile he beat Kafwain who won the Best Pal and the Norfolk as a 2yo, and Hold That Tiger who was the European 2yo champ that year. That is pretty good competition.

Who knows you may be right. But the horse was 4 for 4, has a classic-type pedigree, and beat some stiff competition in the biggest race of his life. For my money that puts him a leg up on the rest of these....but this race would definitely be a crapshoot.

miraja~we can put him in
the reason he was left out is because he is still in training
as Roman Ruler and the rest have been sent to stud duties
and will no longer have the chance to prove themselves on track
but then I should have also excluded Henny Hughes as well
so perhaps we can move First Sam in there in his place
not sure about Wonderboy, any news on him?
I'd imagine a big stud deal is in the works

While I think Officer would dust this field at 9f or shorter, at 10 panels, Stevie Wonderboy, Sky Mesa, and Vindication.

Repent, staying on like Barbaro. SUPER stayer-bred and remember how he ran in the Travers? Totally unfit, had no business in the race, still gave Medaglia d'Or the fight of his life. That race finished him, re-injured (surprise!), retired.

who was the guy who owned Toccet?
that guy was a real trip the way he hyped his horse
putting a full-page ad in the DRF
he was like the Mark Cuban of horse racing

~~Buffy, we can agree on something:)
I thought the world of Buddha
and seeing H. James Bond announce the scratch
it was sad really, never seen a guy so down in the dumps
not sure if he could have chased down War Emblem
at least in the derby...
but I could have easily seen him beating Sarava

loved Repent too, PedAnne...
so many with so much potential
that we were mouth-watering to see in the gate
1st SAT in May, but for one reason or another
unfortunately, didn't quite make it there