The young colts and fillies that carry upon their backs the weight of expectation (some more than others) have turned 3.

That was quite a race from Malagacy. Certainly a colt to watch as he goes through his conditions or possibly right into stakes company.Starine wrote:I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and TVG reposted Malagacy's debut win at Gulfstream, which was quite eye-catching. He's a Shackleford colt from the barn of Todd Pletcher and the win margin was 15 lengths.
I wish Todd would not train horses for this guy. He is a brutal guy with connections to some bad stuff in Ecuador, Guatamala, and Mexico. I understand Todd trains horses and is not a politician, and sure people like Brown and Baffert train for the Saudi Family who are no angels , but this guy is really bad news. Many of the types that work on the backstretch come from the same type of families this owner is notorious for crushing. This guy would be a nightmare for Todd if he gets on TC trail and starts getting national attention.Starine wrote:I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and TVG reposted Malagacy's debut win at Gulfstream, which was quite eye-catching. He's a Shackleford colt from the barn of Todd Pletcher and the win margin was 15 lengths.
Sure gives me confidence to see the anticipated 2yo champ doing his first work back against a 7 year old.stark wrote:Michael Vesce @DRFVesce 4h4 hours ago
2016 BC Juv winner Classic Empire looked great this AM, was well in hand inside Kaigun in 24.80, 49.78, and out 1:03.40. early morning.
Posted about it in his thread but he worked again with Kaigun. Still pretty high on this colt it's a struggle talking myself away from him.Insane Crazy wrote:Sure gives me confidence to see the anticipated 2yo champ doing his first work back against a 7 year old.stark wrote:Michael Vesce @DRFVesce 4h4 hours ago
2016 BC Juv winner Classic Empire looked great this AM, was well in hand inside Kaigun in 24.80, 49.78, and out 1:03.40. early morning.
Looking at the calendar there are a quite a few 6-7f stakes races carded for 3yos, but I don't think any of them are attributed any Derby points, even the G2 Swale does not offer any points. Which means a lot of trainers aren't 'wasting efforts' on these. Because they're committed to the Derby trail unless they've already gotten a lot of points (I don't know say the Cattlya Sho winner came over stateside early for example or in the case of the BC Juvie winner) they can't really afford to miss an opportunity to earn points. Even the G2 Swale does not offer any points.tcw wrote:With the calendar now flipping over to the new year and the TC trail heating up soon, does anyone know what happened to the early 6.5 and 7F stakes races of the past? Looking at the TC prep races coming down the pipe, I didn't notice EVEN one 6.5F or 7F early prep stakes race at any of the major tracks. It's really too bad as horses like Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and others all began the early prep season with races like this.
How early is early? The San Vicente at 7f is going to run on February 12 at Santa Anita. It was won by last year's Derby winner.tcw wrote:With the calendar now flipping over to the new year and the TC trail heating up soon, does anyone know what happened to the early 6.5 and 7F stakes races of the past? Looking at the TC prep races coming down the pipe, I didn't notice EVEN one 6.5F or 7F early prep stakes race at any of the major tracks. It's really too bad as horses like Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and others all began the early prep season with races like this.
It's not an official Derby prep and offers no points. I could be wrong but I think tcw's question is about the official Derby prep races/points races.Curtis wrote:How early is early? The San Vicente at 7f is going to run on February 12 at Santa Anita. It was won by last year's Derby winner.tcw wrote:With the calendar now flipping over to the new year and the TC trail heating up soon, does anyone know what happened to the early 6.5 and 7F stakes races of the past? Looking at the TC prep races coming down the pipe, I didn't notice EVEN one 6.5F or 7F early prep stakes race at any of the major tracks. It's really too bad as horses like Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and others all began the early prep season with races like this.