It’s that time again in Florida… Derby time! <\/FONT> This race has a special place in this writer’s heart because the first winner of this race in 1999 came from one of my stables, but that’s beside the point. <\/FONT> This race has quite a history. Legendary former maiden-claimer Down The Jazz<\/B> finished 2nd<\/SUP> here in 2000 and parlayed that into the best rags-to-riches Triple Crown run in Sim history. He won the Bluegrass Derby and the Middle Jewel before finishing fourth in the New Yorker. <\/FONT> Tower Storm<\/B> finished 2<\/SPAN>nd<\/SPAN><\/SUP> here in 2002 and followed that up with a win in the Bluegrass, <\/SPAN>Granhee<\/B> won here and in Kentucky in 2004. <\/SPAN>Ermington Pegasus <\/B>ran 5<\/SPAN>th<\/SPAN><\/SUP> here in 2006 and then had in-the-money finishes in Kentucky and Maryland on the way to winning over 11 million sim bucks in a stellar career. <\/SPAN>Awesome Force<\/B> won here but faltered in Kentucky, but then recovered to win in Maryland and New York.<\/SPAN><\/FONT> Okay, let’s take a look at this year’s edition. The headliner is an undefeated filly looking to have a go at the colts, but there are plenty of others ready to map their own history and get their \u201cDerby Lock\u201d slot including 2010’s Eclipse-winning 2yo colt. Lots of promising blue-blooded runners to look at:<\/FONT> From the rail goes the aforementioned undefeated filly, <\/SPAN>TERMINAL VELOCITY<\/B>, going off at 7\/1 for <\/SPAN>younggroup<\/SPAN><\/I>. The scratch-bred Awesome Again filly shows no inbreeding in her Sim pedigree, a rare thing to see these days. She’s also a rare thing on the track, a consistent powerhouse who so far has always had plenty in the tank to run down her opposition from far back in Zenyatta-like fashion. A win here would stamp her a genuine contender in the Triple Crown races, and her style and breeding suggest today’s added distance should suit her just fine.<\/SPAN><\/FONT> STRIKES AGAIN<\/B> goes off at 13\/1 and tries to establish himself as a true graded-stakes performer here for the <\/SPAN>goldsmith<\/SPAN><\/I> barn. The Awesome Again colt has shown flashes of ability, but has run poorly in his graded-stakes tries thus far. Can he catch lightning in a bottle here? Not likely, but not impossible.<\/SPAN><\/FONT> TADPOLES DOING IT<\/B> is ranked #12 in the division due to his Grade 1 win back in October, but has been unable to repeat that success since for the <\/SPAN>add<\/SPAN><\/I> stable. This Fan The Flame colt would light the board up at 28\/1 with a win here, but will need to improve greatly to do so.<\/SPAN><\/FONT> OLD ETONIAN<\/B> comes in on a hot streak, with a pair of strong wins including a Grade 2 in his last. This deep-closing colt by Old Fashioned from the <\/SPAN>capitanio2<\/SPAN><\/I> barn is on the improve, but hasn’t faced much stock of this quality yet and is thusly set at 14\/1.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> SYSTEM OVERLOAD<\/SPAN><\/B> is a son of Fusaichi Pegasus who regressed slightly in his last while chasing some good ones home in a Grade 3. Trainer <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>fairhaven1 <\/SPAN><\/I>knows what he’s doing and is unfazed by that setback; his hopes are bolstered by the recent record of the veteran rider aboard. The CPU sets him at 10\/1.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> METALLURGICAL<\/SPAN><\/B> comes back just three weeks after an impressive Grade 3 win in his stakes debut, and has a nice win streak going. The scratch-bred Hard Spun colt is as hot as they come, but this is the <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>peter12<\/SPAN><\/I> trainee’s fifth race since Jan. 22. Can he keep this up? He’s among the favorites at 7\/1.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> SIGHING DESERT<\/SPAN><\/B> is a Street Cry colt who gets 6\/1 odds after his strong win last time out in a Grade 3 on a sloppy NJ oval. That win was the first time he beat winners; was the slop a factor? The CPU likes him despite his jock’s mediocre 2011 record.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> HAACK’S LEGEND<\/SPAN><\/B> goes off at 13\/1 for the <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>ottohaack<\/SPAN><\/I> barn. The Distorted Humor filly returned in strong fashion after a two-month break to record a minor-stakes win after faltering a bit in a Grade 3 in December, and she figures to improve off that effort. Hasn’t got the ridiculous record of the other filly, but she has an upset chance.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> JOYA <\/SPAN><\/B>was the Sim’s top 2yo in 2010 and is currently ranked #4, but some of the lustre has faded away for the Redoute’s Choice colt in 2011 after a pair of poor efforts. Trainer <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>kido<\/SPAN><\/I> is probably starting to wonder if his colt is destined to be a sprinter\/miler, but he’s giving it another try here.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> ERIC’S FAST<\/SPAN><\/B> got caught in the stretch last time out by <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>SIGHING DESERT<\/SPAN><\/B>, but <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>rikib<\/SPAN><\/I> hopes that the tables can be turned here on the dry going. At 6\/1, the speedy Unbridled’s Song colt has never raced two turns on a fast track, and his connections wish they’d been able to draw a better rider. Such are the breaks…<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> GAMBLER GOLD <\/SPAN><\/B>makes his graded-stakes debut here, at 13\/1. The Awesome Gambler colt has run strongly in lesser stakes with good speed ratings and <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>daunte<\/SPAN><\/I> has hired a solid veteran rider for the task here, but this is probably a bit much to ask of this colt.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> Rated #9, <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>DISSECTED<\/SPAN><\/B> goes off the 5\/1 favorite. Trained by <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>checkmate1<\/SPAN><\/I>, the Street Cry colt has one of the top riders aboard and could improve on the fast going. He regressed a bit in his last while facing some tough ones, but a repeat of his Grade 1 win from February could very well do the trick here.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> FLEMINGTON GOLD <\/SPAN><\/B>put together a nice record with some easy allowance wins last year, but the Curlin colt has found things a bit tougher in graded-stakes company so far this year for <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>texasace<\/SPAN><\/I>. This guy will need to improve a good bit to contend here, at 20\/1.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> EMPIRE OF LIGHT<\/SPAN><\/B> took six tries to break his maiden, but he hasn’t missed since. The Flatter colt from the <\/SPAN><\/SPAN>super30<\/SPAN><\/I> stable is dismissed by the CPU at 19\/1, probably because his speed ratings are a bit low, but it’s gard to ignore a three-race win streak.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> Handicap:<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> TERMINAL VELOCITY<\/SPAN><\/B> looks like the real deal to me…<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> ERIC’S FAST <\/SPAN><\/B>will be tough on the lead.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT> METALLURGICAL<\/SPAN><\/B> should run strong, but the wear & tear factor could kick in.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT>Good luck, everyone!<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eclipse Winner Tries To Restore Past Glory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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