Welcome to Hollywood. Who is Your Horse?

Yesterday was the last day of Churchill's fall meet. It was a day with a full card of two year old races. It was fun to watch all the youngsters run their hearts out as their connections pursue Kentucky Oaks and Derby dreams. Today we focus on a three year old grade one stakes race, the Hollywood Derby.

Hollywood Race 9 {Hollywood Derby~G1~1 1/4 mile~Turf~3 year old~Stakes}
A full field of twelve assembles for this exciting turf race. There are a number in here that could pull off a victory as every single entrant has had terrific workouts leading up to this race. It appears it will shape up as a contest between Battle of Hastings (Gomez / Mullins) and Take the Points (Prado / Pletcher). Both have great speed numbers at the distance, good last out speed numbers and have progressively improved each race. The edge goes to Battle of Hastings with Garret Gomez in the irons. Two fine horses with a chance at upset are The Usual QT (Espinoza / Cassidy) and Straight Story (Smith / Goldberg). These two guys have trained forwardly, have nice race progression, and great last out speed numbers. It appears that their trainers have peaked them for this race. My one concern about the The Usual QT is that he has not run at this distance, but he is 88% in the money. Straight Story loves the distance and will be the speed in the race. Jockey, Mike Smith will need to pace him perfectly. Two horses worth mentioning are Al Khali (Desormeaux / Mott) and Black Bear Island(IRE). Again. both have upset potential. Al Khali with Kent Desormeaux aboard has a decent shot because Desormeaux is the leading turf rider in the country. He is able to settle down his rides and get them to post great performances. Just yesterday at Aqueduct he took the horse, Vacation, to victory when he was not the betting favorite. Black Bear Island(IRE) is a favorite of mine. He ran a stellar race on Million day at Arlington Park. He prefers good to softer turf conditions, but maybe trainer, Julio Canani has worked that out of his system. Black Bear Island(IRE) has had the best workouts of the group. Today we will look at a little more complex ten cent superfecta to include all of these fine horses. Let's play Hollywood.

$2 SHOW: #10 Battle of Hastings
10 CENT Superfecta: #10 Battle of Hastings / #7 Take the Points / #2 The Usual QT, #3 Straight Story / #2, #3, #6 Al Khali, #1 Black Bear Island(IRE)

Saturday's Results
Aqueduct R9. Kodiak Kowboy won (1st) the race for show money of $2.10.
Churchill R11. Our pick, Thiskyhasnolimit, placed 6th. Superfecta went 2-4-7-9.
Bankroll sits at $15.70.