Taking an early look @ Kentucky Derby 2009

Taking an early look @ ***Kentucky Derby 2009***

There are 172 days until the running of the 135th edition of the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby this year will be quite intriguing because there has not been a true monster that has established himself yet, although two prospect had began to show signs that they could be the horse. I am speaking of Midshipman and Vineyard Haven, these two are winners of four Grade 1 races between them. Midshipman the Del Mar futurity and the Breeders Cup Juvenile, and Vineyard Haven the winner of the Champagne and the Hopeful Stakes. Godolphin now owns both of these equine athletes and as usual has announced that they will take the Dubai route in trying to win the Derby. This has never worked before and I don’t have any reason to believe that anything different will occur with these horses due to being shipped half way across the world to prep for the hardest race in the world to win. The question is who are the real contenders for the taking of the roses on May 2nd of 2009. The list would have to include some horses that ran in the Breeders Cup Juvi race including 2nd place finisher, Square Eddie, 3rd place finisher Street Hero, and a few others including West Side Bernie, Gallant Son, Silent Valor, Azul Leon, Munnings and Terrain. For those horses whose connections want to keep them out west or running at Keeneland, the real question is will the form from the synthetics transfer to the Dirt at Churchill. The next question is which horse has the running style fitted for a race of this nature with such a large field of horses. The fact is there are a number of horses that haven’t even seen the starting gate yet that will make a large splash in the Triple Crown races, as did the Curlin’s and Big Browns of the world who either only had 1 start or no starts at all as a 2 year old. As we dig deeper into the upcoming prep races that will start up late in January and in February we will break down the list of contenders a bit closer and find out exactly who they are.

The next topic that will be included in Thursday edition of the AAF Blog will be the synthetics and what would happen to horse racing if it were mandated in areas where the Triple Crown Races are run or at Traditional Dirt tracks like Belmont, Monmouth, and Saratoga.

Enjoy