Early move south

It's the time of the year for some trainers to start moving their colts to where they will train and possibly run in the Spring. Since I think a Derby horse should have some 2y old foundation, having no starts/wins as a 2y old is a big negative. A few on my watch list have already made that move, without a race. Western Flight, Shaami, and Cat's Folly all were 800-900K purchases at Kee last Fall. They had been working, and looked to have what it takes to make the Derby run. They could still make their mark in some of the prep races, but I'd think twice when it comes to the Derby.

23846.4 in reply to 23846.3

Add one more to this list of good colts(on paper) with no foundation. Samhoon an AP Indy out of a Mr. Prospector mare. Sold for 1.4 million last Fall. Started to work at Sar in July, moved to Bel then back to Sar, and now has gone to Palm Meadows. Having several works in the north, and starting now in Fl. he should be ready to start early on in the Spring. But, again, to me, its awful hard to go from 0 to 1 1/4 in 4 months, but not impossible I reckon. Of course they could also run this year at Crc. I've noticed Pletcher with a few there in MSW races lately.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by abe1947

23846.4 in reply to 23846.3

Add one more to this list of good colts(on paper) with no foundation. Samhoon an AP Indy out of a Mr. Prospector mare. Sold for 1.4 million last Fall. Started to work at Sar in July, moved to Bel then back to Sar, and now has gone to Palm Meadows. Having several works in the north, and starting now in Fl. he should be ready to start early on in the Spring. But, again, to me, its awful hard to go from 0 to 1 1/4 in 4 months, but not impossible I reckon. Of course they could also run this year at Crc. I've noticed Pletcher with a few there in MSW races lately.

I think he's in my stable mail...

Welcome to the board, by the way.

Thanks for the heads up. The no racing as a two year old is a huge indicator for me when capping the Derby. To me, it tells me the horse either A) isnt good right now or B) had some injuries.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by eurobounce

Thanks for the heads up. The no racing as a two year old is a huge indicator for me when capping the Derby. To me, it tells me the horse either A) isnt good right now or B) had some injuries.

I guess this doesn't really apply since Bernie didn't race in the Derby, but Bernardini's first start wasn't until Jan of '06. He won the Withers a week before the Derby... I doubt anyone was beating Barbaro on Derby day, but it makes you wonder if he would have had a shot...

[kgar311]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

I guess this doesn't really apply since Bernie didn't race in the Derby, but Bernardini's first start wasn't until Jan of '06. He won the Withers a week before the Derby... I doubt anyone was beating Barbaro on Derby day, but it makes you wonder if he would have had a shot...

No shot, there were more then 4 horses in the race.

Originally Posted by abe1947

It's the time of the year for some trainers to start moving their colts to where they will train and possibly run in the Spring. Since I think a Derby horse should have some 2y old foundation, having no starts/wins as a 2y old is a big negative. A few on my watch list have already made that move, without a race. Western Flight, Shaami, and Cat's Folly all were 800-900K purchases at Kee last Fall. They had been working, and looked to have what it takes to make the Derby run. They could still make their mark in some of the prep races, but I'd think twice when it comes to the Derby.

I think foundation itself has changed with modern training methods. Trainers do more with horses in the morning to build foundation than they used to, and fresh legs and a healthy horse far outweigh the benefits of lots of races.
I'd rather see one debut in late November or December and run a race per month leading up to the Derby than anything else.