I thought this race actually set up pretty nicely for Owendale (third off the shelf, nice progression from Risen Star to Lexington to Preakness); he just gets a little further back than what I usually like to see in the Belmont.

prep race at 9f or 9.5f owendale maybe.  the horse has no mare stamina to speak of.   getting 12f and hitting trifecta would have been close to impossible for him.  traner knows this. and withdrew from the race

Well it’s a good thing they don’t all pull back based on pedigree or there would be none left lol.

but didn’t he gain a couple of lengths on WoW in the Preakness stretch?  Hmm....

No Game Winner?  I guess they already ran a 12f race, no need to run a 14f race. (jk, he would not be as wide and have as much ground loss).   I thought since I first saw the pedigree, Tacitus had the look.  Has Tossaud and Best in Show in the dam side.  no value there.  Looks like another straight tri bet, no big betting for me.

Gonna have to p(l)ay the Tax next Saturday!........Got a feeling about him.

It’s interesting to look at the winner’s pedigrees and how they change over time...going back to the year after Sarava (16 years) the winner’s sireline was

RAN-RAN-RAN-RAN-API-Int-RAN-RAN-RAN-ND-RAN-API-RAN-API-API-ND (the RAN’s are all actually Mr. P, it’s just easier to type RAN).

I like this race for Tax, unfortunately it’s been awhile since a Turn To finished first.

agree tapit/pletcher angle sounds good but i just like spinoff better for this race

also looks like master fencer is going to be okay after stumble?

I don’t know what to make of Master Fencer now.Just because the x-rays were negative doesn’t mean that the horse isn’t sore.Will have to keep an eye on him next week

This year looks to be the first in at least 21 years without a RAN sire line horse in the Belmont. Not sure how much farther this goes back.