February 12th 2017 – Updated February 20th

The Kentucky Derby trail is heating up after an impressive performance yesterday in the Sam F. Davis Stakes by McCraken (shown below). McCraken set a Sam F. Davis Stakes and track record with his winning time of 1:42.45. He also beat some pretty good competition in this field from Todd Pletcher’s stable.

This is exactly the kind of performance you hope your Derby contender has coming off a significant layoff. I was somewhat skeptical that his closer racing style would work on Tampa Bay Downs track surface. But McCraken proved to me that he is a legitimate talent. I expect this colt will gain many new fans along the way and lay down some more great performances.

I still wouldn’t rank him first in my Kentucky Derby contender rankings. I need to see how Mastery performs in his first start as a 3 year-old. I also want to see how Uncontested performs on a dry, fast track at 8 1/2 furlongs. McCraken’s closing race style concerns me a little because closers typically don’t fare very well in a field of 20 in the Kentucky Derby. But read my next bit below to serve as a reminder that sometimes it works out very well. So McCraken he has to be somewhere in the Top 4 Derby contender rankings after yesterday’s performance. MCraken also has a pedigree that suggests he will like added distance and could turn out to be a star like his father Ghostzapper was if he races as a 4 and 5 year-old.

There is a ton of talent in the 2017 Kentucky Derby class. This bodes well for producing exciting Triple Crown races and for the older horse division in the future.

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Less than 12 weeks away from Derby Day!

On the docket…

Southwest Stakes Preview 

My preview of the Southwest Stakes can be found at  https://www.usracing.com/news/analysis/southwest-stakes-trifecta-play

After the Southwest Stakes race, I will publish my next version of Kentucky Derby contender rankings.

–Michael