The eighth season of Countdown to the Crown returns as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 4 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates, opinions and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.

Straight from the gate

Is it possible to pick a $46.20 winner and feel absolutely miserable about it? It is. That happened to me last year in Pool 2 of Churchill’s Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After finding Itsmyluckyday and 2-year-old champion Shanghai Bobby a little too much to handle going two turns making his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, Clearly Now will get both distance and class relief when he turns back to seven furlongs for Saturday’s $150,000 Swale.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On the road to the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct shapes up as a starting point for Overanalyze and a proving ground for his 11 rivals.

Overanalyze is one of just two graded stakes winners in the field, having ended his 2-year-old season with a nose victory in the Grade 2 Remsen over Aqueduct’s main track last Nov. 24, his last start.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – For Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the $60,000 Gazebo for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park on Saturday is more than just a little sprint feature. It’s the launching pad for Kentucky Derby hopeful Titletown Five, a horse the Wisconsin native named for the Green Bay Packers and one of its most outstanding players, No. 5, Paul Hornung.

[bc_video_id:285464:]It’s Big Cap Day on Saturday at Santa Anita, with the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap topping a program that also includes two other Grade 1 events, the $300,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile and the $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes.

There also are multiple graded stakes Saturday at Aqueduct and Gulfstream Park. At Aqueduct, the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham is supported by the Grade 2, $200,000 Top Flight Handicap and Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap. At Gulfstream, the Grade 3, $150,000 Swale Stakes is backed up by the Grade 3, $150,000 Herecomesthebride Stakes.

No, there aren’t any Kentucky Derby points available Saturday in the $75,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes over the Polytrack surface at Turfway Park. But for some folks working backward from the May 4 Derby – such as Ken Ramsey – it seems like an ideal place to get in some useful practice for Polytrack races with points.

WHO'S HOT

Code West, Ive Struck a Nerve, and Orb are the three newcomers to this week’s Derby Watch Top 20. Orb, who won the Fountain of Youth last Saturday, is the co-fifth choice at 12-1 on the Kentucky Derby future line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper. Ive Struck a Nerve, the upset winner of the Risen Star, is 40-1 on Watchmaker’s line, with Risen Star runner-up Code West 30-1.

Mike Repole has horses that run as fast as he talks, and that’s a good thing – at least for his horses – because when you get him on the phone, he goes the first quarter in 21 and change and keeps right on motoring.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Six new horses are in the lineup of 23 separately listed wagering interests in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens its customary three-day run Friday at noon Eastern.