If you can’t dream big in our sport, where can you dream big? One of the best examples of unbridled optimism in the game can be found among the names of the 362 3-year-olds whose connections met a Jan. 26 deadline and became early nominees to the 2019 Triple Crown. It should be noted that this was not the only opportunity to make 3-year-olds eligible to run in the Kentucky Derby, and/or Preakness, and/or Belmont Stakes. There is a late nominations stage that closes on April 1 (is it a coincidence that that is April Fool’s Day?) when the price to get through the door jumps to $6,000. There is also the opportunity to supplement a horse at entry time to either the Kentucky Derby ($200,000), the Preakness ($150,000), or the Belmont ($50,000). Obviously, it should never reach the point where a 3-year-old's connections contemplate supplementing to a Triple Crown race, not when the price for an early nomination is only $600, an amount that even I could probably come up with. Of course, some familiar names have their usual presence on the early Triple Crown nominations list. Steve Asmussen trains 27 early nominees, and Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, and Todd Pletcher train 17 each. (As an aside, perhaps the most shocking development at this early point in the Triple Crown prep season is that Todd Pletcher does not yet have a single 3-year-old who could be even loosely described as a prominent Kentucky Derby candidate. Pletcher’s 2-year-old crop last year was underwhelming, but it is still surprising we haven’t seen at least one horse emerge from his barn and bid to be a legitimate top-20 Derby prospect.) There are also all the likely equine suspects you would expect on this early nominations list, such as Game Winner, Improbable, and others of that ilk. But the relatively low price for an early Triple Crown nomination makes it very easy for dreamers to live a dream. For example, there are a slew (no pun intended) of early Triple Crown nominees who as of this writing have not yet made their first career starts. That’s okay. Last year, Justify didn’t make his career debut until more than three weeks after the early Triple Crown nominations deadline, and all he did was go on and sweep the Triple Crown, and be overwhelmingly voted Horse of the Year. That said, there are three unraced horses nominated to the Triple Crown who haven’t even been named yet. There is, of course, a large group of raced maidens nominated, which is typical for early Triple Crown nominees. And some of those raced maidens are just plain slow horses, which is also typical for the process. But there is also a certain handful of horses nominated by folks who either dream way bigger than most of us, or get a bigger thrill out of being able to say their horse is a Triple Crown nominee than many of us would. Let’s have a look at a few of these horses: ** Brian’s Spirit – Well, he’s not unraced, and he’s not a maiden. He’s got that going for him. Brian’s Spirit made both of his starts at Delta Downs. He finished a distant sixth of eight against straight maidens in his debut. But he blossomed last time out with the addition of blinkers, mastering maiden $20,000 claimers and raising his Beyer Figure game from a 26 in his first start to a 38. ** Tizprocess – He finished second - albeit a distant second - in his debut last summer against $25,000 maiden claimers at Laurel, and earned a Beyer of 27. He reappeared early this month at the same class level and at the same track and was clearly a different horse, getting up in time and boosting his Beyer all the way up to 49. Note that this win came after he was nominated to the Triple Crown. They knew! ** Angelo’s Corner – This guy made all five of his career starts on the NYRA circuit last year, on turf, fast dirt, and wet main tracks. He finally put it all together just before his third birthday, coming from off the pace in the mud to best maiden $30,000 claimers with a 48 Beyer. ** Trifor Gold – He was a winner right out of the box last fall at Laurel over $40,000 maiden claimers with a 63 Beyer. Unfortunately, that is as good as it has gotten for him, at least so far. He did have a tough trip when a distant sixth in the subsequent Maryland Juvenile Futurity, but could manage only a soundly beaten sixth of seven last time in a first-level allowance sprint, again at Laurel. ** Angelo’s Pride – Aside from it obviously being a difficult year for horses named after Angelo, this gelding is actually a two-time winner. After coming up short in his first three starts against straight maidens, he responded to the drop to maiden $12,500 claiming company at Golden Gate with a decisive win, and followed with a 33-1 upset in a starter allowance race there. He fell short of making it three straight when third in another starter allowance, but at least he improved his career-best Beyer to 62. Look, it goes without saying that even in a four-horse Preakness, none of these horses, or others like them, have any chance of being competitive in a Triple Crown race. There is, however (and this is a critical distinction), a world of difference between nominating the most dreamer of dreamer horses to a major event, and actually running a hopelessly overmatched longshot in a major event. I’ll save my scorn for the latter, but I’ll smile along with the former in appreciation of the dream, and the display of optimism. Saturday notes: ** The rail was demonstrably dead Saturday on the main track at Tampa Bay Downs. Fortunately, the bias had no impact on the running of the Sam F. Davis Stakes, the weekend’s only Kentucky Derby points race. No one was meaningfully compromised by the track as front-running upset winner Well Defined raced away from the dead rail every step of the way. He was in the three path around the first turn and down the backstretch, was in the two path briefly on the far turn, and then returned to the three path late on the far turn and stayed there through the stretch. The chart footnote on Well Defined reads he “cleared the field entering the clubhouse turn, set the pace on the inside, showed the way on the far turn, raced a few paths off the rail turning for home, responded when asked and was kept to the task through the late.” In fact, and as noted above, Well Defined was never on the inside. If you want proof, check the Tampa Bay Downs website, which shows both pan and head on-shot replays. Not only was the comment stating Well Defined raced on the inside incorrect, it was misleading, and on a day when a distinct bias was in play. Not good. (Update: The official chart has been changed to reflect that Well Defined set the pace from off the rail.) ** The bias may have had an impact on the Suncoast, Tampa’s other main track stakes race Saturday. Soon after taking the lead, Lady Kate went to the dead rail late on the far turn. It wasn’t long before she started to flag, and was passed like she was standing still in the stretch by Point of Honor, who was wide in the best footing all the way and who went on to win by almost three lengths. Now, I think Point of Honor would have beaten Lady Kate anyway. But I think the margin between the two at the finish would have been a lot closer had Lady Kate not drifted down to the dead rail when she did, and stayed there. ** Some people may have been disappointed that Bellafina was forced to work to win the Las Virgenes at Santa Anita as the 1-10 favorite by less than a length over Enaya Alrabb, but I wasn’t one of them. I actually liked her effort. Bellafina took extended pace pressure from Mother Mother and never once had so much as a moment’s breather before being taken on by Enaya Alrabb, who is clearly much improved.