What you think of Saturday’s developments on the road to the Kentucky Derby probably depends on what you make of Audible’s big score in the Holy Bull Stakes. That is because of the four stakes races Saturday with Derby implications – the Holy Bull and the Swale at Gulfstream Park, the Withers at Aqueduct, and the Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita – Audible’s performance was by far the best. Audible tracked the pace from close range, broke the race open in upper stretch and drew off to score by more than five lengths in a time fast enough to earn a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 99. It is important to note that Audible’s Beyer was 12 points higher than the Beyers that Strike Power and Avery Island received for winning the Swale and Withers and 13 points higher than Lombo got for his Lewis victory. That’s roughly a seven-length gap going a middle distance – a gap that, in a vacuum barring all other considerations such as individual development and varying race dynamics, can certainly be closed come Kentucky Derby time but is still a gaping one nonetheless. :: The Road to the Kentucky Derby Player's Package Maybe I’m looking for problems when there aren’t any, but the issue I have with Audible’s Holy Bull is, where exactly did that performance come from? I understand that new 3-year-olds can improve dramatically literally overnight. But Audible was essentially an interesting New York-bred after he got his maiden win in his second start, and his nearly 10-length win against open allowance company at Aqueduct in his start preceding the Holy Bull was tempered by the fact that it came in an off-the-turf race over three hapless opponents. I’m wondering if the company behind Audible in the Holy Bull made him look better than he might really be. Horses like Free Drop Billy, Tiz Mischief, and Enticed, who ran two, three, four in the Holy Bull, enjoyed varying degrees of accomplishment last year at 2. But they all were painfully slow in a relative sense. I mean, the highest winning Beyer any of these three had last year was a modest 81. While all of us were allowing these three lots of room for Beyer improvement from 2 to 3, maybe these three haven’t improved all that much. Maybe they aren’t really all that good and will make any colt with reasonable ability look like the next Ghostzapper. Maybe. Let me stress that I am not opposed to the notion that Audible has taken a massive step forward and is suddenly a major player in the Derby picture. But given what he did before and what I sense he ran against on Saturday, I need to see Audible do again what he did in the Holy Bull before I buy in. • Swale winner Strike Power clearly has a world of ability. He turned heads when he earned a 102 Beyer in a debut romp at Gulfstream late last year and was unchallenged again Saturday while handling the not-easy stretch-out from 5 1/2 to seven furlongs. On the downside, Strike Power earned a Swale Beyer that was 15 points lower than his first figure, and he raced on his wrong lead through the stretch. There is cause for skepticism when it comes to Strike Power’s ability at this young stage of his career to handle a meaningful distance of ground, but he has every license to go farther down the Derby prep road. He seems like a perfect fit for a race like the Gotham at a one-turn mile, but I’m not sure that would reveal what needs to be learned about Strike Power, so I’d love to see him try two turns next time. • The bright side for Avery Island is that it takes some substance for a new 3-year-old to win a 1 1/8-mile race like the Withers off a two-month layoff. That’s good work. However, the cause for pause here is that Avery Island had to dig very deep to turn back Firenze Fire and Marconi. Firenze Fire is a good horse with a big heart, but he has given every indication of being a one-turn performer with distance limitations, and Marconi, the $2 million yearling buy, is one-paced. When Avery Island’s Withers in taken in that context, it says he has more work to do. • Even on paper, Saturday’s Lewis was considerably below the standard for that race. Recent maiden winner Lombo is obviously much improved and never really had many anxious moments taking this Lewis field wire to wire. But all you need to know is that Michael Pender, Lombo’s trainer, described his colt as being “rubber-legged” down the stretch. The Lewis was at 1 1/16 miles. • They ought to make male sprint champ Roy H give the Palos Verdes money back. That was just too easy. But the outing does set up Roy H perfectly for what he wants to do now, which seems to be Dubai. • There was no speed in the San Pasqual. That’s why I liked Accelerate – I thought he could capitalize on the lack of pace and lead the San Pasqual field on a merry chase. But Accelerate didn’t break on the button, was shuffled back as a result, and of all horses, the closer Mubtaahij wound up disputing the pace, which will tell you precisely how little speed there was. Then, Accelerate took up sharply on the rail down the backstretch. Yes, Accelerate did get through on the rail into the stretch, but considering that he was totally out of position and his early trouble, he was much the best. • There were two intriguing 3-year-old maiden races Saturday. At Gulfstream, against a field that included three highly touted first-time starters, Machismo, in his fourth start, stormed to an 11 1/2-length score, earning an 85 Beyer. Machismo came into Saturday’s start off a distant third behind Magnum Moon, whose debut romp was noted here a few weeks ago and who was certainly flattered by the way Machismo came back and won. Machismo is by More Than Ready and from a Smart Strike mare, so there’s little reason to think he won’t stretch out successfully. At Santa Anita, Curly’s Rocket won the 3-year-old straight maiden race, but it was runner-up Once On Whiskey who caught the eye. Once On Whiskey, a Bob Baffert-trained son of Bodemeister (Baffert also trains Curly’s Rocket) and, interestingly, not yet a Triple Crown nominee, was so far back into the stretch that it looked like he was in another county. But Once On Whiskey closed with a rush and galloped out about a furlong ahead of everyone else.