turffan
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Post by turffan on Apr 29, 2023 13:00:41 GMT -5
… takes the lead at the 8th pole and says goodbye which is my way of saying he is going to relish the mile and a quarter.
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1hooper
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Post by 1hooper on Apr 29, 2023 13:31:24 GMT -5
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Post by spiderjohn on Apr 29, 2023 13:34:56 GMT -5
Will b the wise guy horse imo
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turffan
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Post by turffan on Apr 29, 2023 15:01:56 GMT -5
I played him in the Risen Star at good odds and passed on him in the Arkansas Derby. It’s the latter race that convinced me. There are a lot of nice ones in the Derby field but if I have to pick one…
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eye123
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Post by eye123 on Apr 30, 2023 7:27:50 GMT -5
I had a lot of question marks surrounding Angel of Empire. (I was impressed when he changed leads in his last, and drew off) $70,000 Pennsylvania bred that started at IND and second out put in a turf sprint at KD. (not the way you'd expect a top prospect to start his career ) So dug a bit further: This answered some of my questions:
Interview (Jason Loutsch racing manager Albaugh Stables) (This interview took place before his Arkansas run ) PS Two Penn breds have won the Derby Lil E Tee and Smarty Jones
Pedulla: What led you to buy Angel of Empire?
Loutsch: When we went to the Keeneland sale in 2021, we were hoping to pick up one or two colts in the later books. It's a numbers game, right? So, we were just trying to acquire a few more colts that, regardless of where they are from or how they are bred, we thought could get the classic distance. We thought he had the things we are looking for and we thought it was a fair price. We search the later books to see if there is something that meets our criteria, and he filled all the boxes.
Pedulla: What were your expectations when you bought him?
Loutsch: Like I said, it's a numbers game, so you really don't know. There have been all kinds of priced horses that won the Kentucky Derby. Our goal is to find horses that can get the classic distance and possibly win the Kentucky Derby.
Pedulla: I see he broke his maiden last August at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Loutsch: We sent him to Brad (Cox) and we sent him to Indiana not knowing exactly what we had yet. He just continues to get better and better. He's a big, tall, rangy colt; the farther the better. He's still maturing. He's an April foal (born April 9, 2020). We hope he can keep progressing and making the necessary improvements to get to May.
Pedulla: Why did you decide to keep him at Horseshoe Indianapolis for two of his three starts as a 2-year-old? He also won an allowance race there.
Loutsch: It's not where they start. It's where they finish. We don't really care about where we break our maiden. We just like to get them experience and then we go from there.
Pedulla: So, you don't mind starting your 2-year-olds off the beaten path?
Loutsch: We don't care where we break our maiden. It's about gaining that initial experience. If they win, we can advance to run against the bigger boys.
Pedulla: In looking at his past performances, his only bad race was the second start of his career, an allowance race at Kentucky Downs in which he ran sixth. What happened that day?
Loutsch: Brad said, "Let's run him on the turf and see if he likes it." He had no interest in running on the turf.
Pedulla: Why did you choose the Smarty Jones to open his 3-year-old campaign?
Loutsch: He had been training really well and Brad wanted to give him a shot in the Smarty Jones. We wanted to see where we stood, to be honest with you. I thought he ran a great race in the Smarty Jones off a layoff. We were really happy. After that race we talked and we thought that long stretch at the Fair Grounds would be really good for him.
Pedulla: You were right.
Loutsch: I thought Luis Saez did a tremendous job of getting him in position. He's not a fast horse sprinting-wise, so I was worried about him getting shuffled back too far. But Luis got him out of the gate and got him to the rail and sat behind the speed and did a marvelous job of getting him into position to succeed.
Pedulla: Brad emphasized after the Risen Star that this is a colt that wants distance. Will the mile and a quarter in the Derby not be an issue?
Loutsch: I don't think so. I don't think any horse in America is really bred to go a mile and a quarter. But he's certainly bred to run a mile and an eighth, and he was still running at the wire (in the Risen Star). So, we have confidence he will get the mile and a quarter.
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Post by spiderjohn on Apr 30, 2023 7:53:59 GMT -5
So sensible….
Supposedly looking and doing extremely well @ CD
I expect him to run well
On the short list
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shoes
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Post by shoes on Apr 30, 2023 8:41:55 GMT -5
I played him in the Risen Star at good odds and passed on him in the Arkansas Derby. It’s the latter race that convinced me. There are a lot of nice ones in the Derby field but if I have to pick one… I like that he has won on three different tracks. |
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