Turf War stamped himself as a potential Derby horse for 2008 with a come-from-behind dead-heat with favored Z Humor in the Delta Jackpot. He came from way back early and finished like a horse who will appreciate even more distance. This race also showed marked improvement over any race he has run, which is a good sign this time of year. He earned a 96 speed figure as did Z Humor and third place Golden Yank. Z Humor surprisingly ran second early and it paid off for him. A good race from him but probably not that much improvement off his BC Juvy, he just faced a much easier field here. Racecar Rhapsody closed to get fourth but didn’t show as much improvement as one would like to see right now. Overextended once again lived up to his name as he seems to be perpetually ambitiously placed. That said, he still did OK in the race, once again beating more horses than beat him, but it would be nice to see him placed where he can actually win.
The filly Lovely Isle earned a 101 Beyer going 6f at Aqueduct in an eye-popping 16 length allowance win and ran much faster than a stakes for two-year-old fillies the same day. She was promptly sold to Robert Frankel.
Barrier Reef blew the final turn at Aqueduct but still broke his maiden quite easily with a very green late run. Was 5-6 lengths back at the last call and still won. The final time was nothing special for a one mile race, but not bad for the actual distance he ran. Sometimes this happens to young horses who are too fast for their own good. Curlin did this early in his career.