Paul's Hope...

I picked him up going deep in that leg. What stuck out the most to me were a few things (even though I thought others would actually win the race):

Obviously, Espinoza taking the mount makes me think the horse is going to be live. He was dropping from 75K MCL down to 32K MCL (nice drop, actually biggest drop in the field). Also, this horse seemed to be fit because of his progression of works and, more importantly, his 3f work just 3 days before the race. Normally I don't pay much attention to 3f works unless they are sub :36. This one happened to be :35 which tells me, if nothing else, this horse is probably more fit than he's ever been. Again, combine that with Espinoza taking the mount and the class drop seems legit.

Regarding being beaten by a football field. I thought the trainer knew the horse wasn't "in" that last race. Anytime I see a horse coming back from a layoff their last race (which, this one was) and see the lengths back increase so drastically from stretch to the wire, I give the benefit of the doubt to that race being a "work." It was a route, you make the horse run more than he naturally wants to go for some good competitive exercise. Give him a week or two off and let him swell up like a rockstar, bring him back for a sharp 3f work to get his mind on racing....and Boom!! Tough Actin Tinactin.

Anybody know if he was claimed??