Godolphin's best shot yet?

[parsixfarms]

I have mixed feelings about this guy. For a son of Honour and Glory to fetch $400,000 as a yearling, he must really look the part. Also, he is strictly bred for dirt, so his 2YO form probably doesn't mean that much.

As for the "Beyer" figure for the race, I don't trust it. They don't post fractional splits in the races from Dubai, but visually, it looked like the speed horses (including the much-hyped Shamardal) were setting suicidal fractions on the front end. If you couple the fact that the front end absolutely collapsed (even Durban Thunder, who middle-moved into the hot pace, stopped badly) with the notion that several others' experiment with the dirt was a complete failure, what you get is a final margin of victory and running time that are somewhat phony. In this regard, the only other horse that did any running at the end was Frankel's Marenostrum, who showed little in his NA debut at Santa Anita a few weeks ago.

Of all the horses Godolphin has brought over for the Derby, I thought Worldly Manner was their best shot. Interesting article by Andy Beyer regarding the problems with Godolphin's prep schedules for their Derby prospects. For many of the reasons discussed by him, I don't see their fortunes changing this year either.

[Ill-bred]

Blues and Royals is out of the Derby.....

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todays ... 3&subsec=2