Here are some thoughts on horses in the lineup for the second round of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, those I see as potential overlays and underlays, as well as some notable runners that are a part of the field.
Trainer Frank Lucarelli has pulled out his red pen in preparation for Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. Lucarelli will use his pen to draw a line through the last race of Mana Strike, one of 14 3-year-olds in the 1 1/8-mile El Camino Real Derby, run on the Tapeta main track.
A rule that nearly excluded the talented 3-year-old Tom's Ready from the Lecomte Stakes, in which he finished second and earned qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, could come into play again at Fair Grounds when entries are taken for the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Friday.
The undefeated Mohaymen is the favorite at 5-1 on the line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, for the inaugural Derby Watch top 20 of 2016.
It was just four years ago that trainer Doug O'Neill, jockey Mario Gutierrez, and owner Paul Reddam won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with I'll Have Another, who parlayed a pair of victories at Santa Anita earlier that year into success in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Now the same team is set to embark on another bid at the classics with Nyquist.
A quarter crack is likely to prevent the three-time stakes winner Toews On Ice from starting in Monday's $200,000 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
A massive overhaul from Pool 1 just 11 weeks earlier has resulted in 13 new names being among the 23 separately listed wagering interests for Pool 2 of the 2016 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for a three-day run.
Matt King Coal, an impressive maiden winner last fall at Belmont, returned to the work tab Sunday for the first time in 10 weeks, breezing a half-mile in 49.93 seconds in company over the training track. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.19 and six furlongs in 1:15.10.
Nyquist, the undefeated champion 2-year-old male of 2015, was pronounced ready for the start of his 3-year-old season in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes on Feb. 15 after a five-furlong workout in 59.38 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Mor Spirit closed his 2-year-old campaign with a win in the Los Alamitos Futurity and he kicked off his 3-year-old season with a similar victory in the Robert Lewis Stakes, in which he equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure.
