Im starting to lean towards trainers with smaller barns. Naf man says let the horse take you where you need to go. Pletcher has 5 in. One man cannot be as personally attentive. Matz the year before. Pletcher had over 30 nominees. No way he can give personal attention. Pletcher obviously has a very good staff, but the days of the giant barn domination might be gone (Baffert, Lucas) for this one race that requires so much attention (and luck). Young horses that as two year olds need to be constantly reviewed. Naf man spent a lot of time on one very good animal. And if the animal had faltered and not shown him what he wanted to see, I feel fairly certain he would not have put him into the race. Why exactly did CQ take 8 weeks off? I dont think we got the real story. That could not have been the plan.

So the italicized piece is my major thought at this point, which is probably off thread, but there ya go.