Dodge Em has begun

Well with the news that Hanson is going in the Bluegrass instead of the Wood Memorial, the real game of dodge ‘em begins. With the big grey 2 year old champ staying in Kentucky the connections of Alpha say they will now go in the Wood Memorial instead of the Louisiana Derby. They just want to stay away from a challenge and need that big paycheck to get in the gate May 5^th. 

     Now, to this weeks preps. Although I have been saying, “who are these horses” in the preps up to now, I truly mean it this weekend. I really have never heard of any of the full field of 12 in the Vinery/ Jim Beam/ Gallery Furniture/ Lanes End SPIRAL Stakes at Turfway.  And the same goes for the Sunland Derby, what we like to call the Cowboy Derby in these parts. However, they don’t lack top connections and appear as the second and third strings also trying to cash out. In the two races we have Pletcher with 3, Baffert with 2, along with Assmussen, Motion, Maker, Hollendorfer as trainers.

     As you can see by the top ten in earning as of now at least two new horses will hit this list Monday morning. So, I’m not gonna think about it and save my money for the real deals over the next three weeks starting next weekend with both the Louisiana Derby and Florida Derby.

RON

Rank	Horse	Graded Earnings	Owner(s)	Trainer
1.	Hansen	$1,400,000	Kendall E. Hansen & Sky Chai Racing	Mike Maker
2.	Union Rags	$1,070,000	Chadds Ford Stable (Phyllis Wyeth)	Michael Matz
3.	Creative Cause	$686,000	Heinz Steinmann	Mike Harrington
4.	Sabercat	$601,429	Winchell Thoroughbreds, LLC	Steve Asmussen
5.	Wrote (IRE)	$556,630	Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor	Aiden O'Brien
6.	Secret Circle	$470,000	Mike Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman	Bob Baffert
7.	Dullahan	$405,000	Donegal Racing (Jerry Crawford)	Dale Romans
8.	Liaison	$393,000	Arnold Zetcher LLC	Bob Baffert
9.	Prospective	$365,452	John C. Oxley	Mark Casse
10.	On Fire Baby (f)	$286,729	Anita Cauley	Gary Hartlage