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5/21 (Sun) -- Post-Preakness Comments! No Triple Crown this year! :-(
With a slow pace and slow fractions. National Treasure went wire-to-wire to win the second leg of the Triple Crown! Hall of Fame jockey, Johnny Velazquez, was excited to win his first Preakness Stakes! Trainer Bob Baffert and Johnny V go far back and have good relationship with each other. Baffert had mixed feelings: Won the Preakness, but another one of his horses had to euthanized the same day.

Lot of credit goes to trainer Chad Brown and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Blazing Sevens. Towards the finish line, Blazing Sevens had the slightest lead for a brief moment and National Treasure dug deeper to hold on for a win.

There was a major concern whether Mage would get out of the starting gate cleanly or not. He couldn't afford to get a slow start and fall behind quickly. But, Mage did manage to get out of the gate cleanly, but just didn't have the umphhhh to come out strongly. At the same time, it wasn't fair that Mage was the only Derby horse to enter the Preakness. In earlier years, at least half of the Derby horses entered in the Preakness field. You know, with only two weeks of rest, remaining horses have a bigger edge to win. With only seven horses in the race, post positions didn't matter at all! Bottom line, National Treasure proved to be the BEST! :-)

5/21 (Sun) -- Post Preakness Comments on Kris's selections! I'm glad that my predictions were spot on. As mentioned, National Treasure did use his speed to win the race. Clearly, Mage was tired from the Derby win and also had to battle from the outside. Red Route One finished fourth, but he was a close third. Had it rained, RRO would have performed even far better. Disappointed that Perform didn't perform as well. I did mention that, in an earlier race, Blazing Sevens has similar abilities as Perform and lost to Perform by couple of lengths only. But, Blazing Sevens performed even far better than expected! Most likely, it had a LOT to do with top-notch rider Irad Ortiz Jr.!

5/6 (Sat) -- Another Derby shakeup! A shakeup, for sure! This has to be the first time that five horses were scratched two days before the Derby; especially the Derby favorite. As stated in my book, a scratch of a single horse is a BIG impact on the race; especially if a favorite sratches. Five horses being scratched is even a more detrimental impact! :-(
MAY THE BEST HORSE WIN! Good luck! Compare your selections with mine! :-)

5/5 (Fri) -- Another Derby scratch today :-( Hard to believe that a total of four horses scratched within 2 days of the Derby. So, the 'Also Eligible' horses have been added to the outside posts and remaining horses get to move in without any gaps. The strange part is that, now, only 19 horses are running. Yet, we have horses #21, #22, and #23 running in the race! Wouldn't it be off the wall if one of these horses wins the race? After all, last year, Rich Strike entered the Derby field practically in the last minute (the day before the Derby) and ended up winning the race at 80-1 odds. The big question is: Could we face a similar situation tomorrow?

5/4 (Thurs) -- Major changes in the Derby field! Wow! Two days before the derby, three horses were scratched. Certainly didn't expect that many! I was going to post my Derby analysis and selections on Friday evening! But, due to these major changes, I will post them on Saturday morning instead! Interestingly, there were three different reasons that Practical Move, Lord Miles, and Continuar scratched. Will there be any additional scratches on Friday? Hopefully not.

5/1 (Mon) -- Post positions drawn today! You may love a certain horse for the derby already. But, it is today's Kentucky Derby post position draw that determined how much of an impact there is on the horse that you love! The BIG question: Did your key horse get a good or a difficult post position? One positive news is that sunny skies are predicted for Saturday! On Friday, Kentucky Oaks day, there is a 30% chance of rain.

4/26 (Wed) -- Three absolute critical things to look for in making your Derby selection(s)! Prior to making a decision in making your horse selection(s), you should seriously consider the following factors:
1) Check to see how the weather is!!! This is easy to overlook, but you would be amazed how much of an impact this factor is! There are some horses that do far better on a wet surface than a dry, fast track! A prime example is a horse name Exaggerator. He absolutely LOVED a sloppy/muddy track and won the 2016 Preakness Stakes easily...by four lengths!

2) The Kentucky Derby draw for horses' post positions will take place on Monday, May 1st! For the key horse that you like, did your horse land in a FAVORABLE post position? If your horse got the dreaded post position #1, you would face a more negative situation than horses that landed in remaining post positions. The inside post is tough in that the next few horses could bump your horse badly and lose any key positioning; especially if your horse is slow in getting out of the gate. Your horse could also be stuck on the rail and be blocked from getting out (to a good position). I suppose it could be worse. No horse has ever won from post position #17. Hopefully, your key horse didn't get this post position. On the other hand, will you make history by winning from here?!!! :-) On the other hand, from a Google search, horse #5 won the most Kentucky Derbies! Produced 4 winners since year 2000 and 11% of all winners. Horse numbers 10 and 15 came in second and third successful posts respectively.

3) If the key horse that you love lands in an UNfavorable post position, then, you should consider using your second or third key horse. Hopefully, one of these two landed in a much more favorable post position! Bottom line...Make necessary adjustments by selecting your correct key horse to win the Derby!

4/9 -- One more Derby prep race to go! Have you been paying close attention to the Derby prep races?!!! If not, now is a REALLY good time to start!!! Only the Lexington Stakes race is left! Then, the most prestigious race will be upon us again! It only means more mystery and lot more FUN!

Be sure to look at "Road to the Derby" results and start making your own assessments! Of course, the BIG key is the all important post position of the horses that we like and think will win. Don't forget that the weather will play an integral part as well. Wet conditions will surely make a big difference too. After the post positions are drawn, I will provide final details including horse name, jockey, horse trainer, and odds. More importantly, I will provide my analysis (similar to below) and commentary regarding 'each and every' horse! Stayed tuned right here!

3/15 -- Four huge Derby prep races on 25th weekend! We got to see how Tapit Trice performed last week! In ten days, we will get to know which other key horses will be running and how well they will get to perform! Most likely, some of the key horses will be those that ran in the earlier Derby prep races!

We have exactly a month left over for the remaining Derby prep races; i.e., The Lexington Stakes will be the final Derby prep race. Afterwards, it will be us, the key decision-makers to determine which horse WE (each of us) think will take the bed of roses!

2/2 -- Pegasus predictions - Regarding any bets in the Pegasus race, notice that I stated you should play Exacta box bets with the horse(s) that you like. Defunded was one of my top two picks, and he came in second. Turns out that my long shot Art Collector ended up winning the race at 33-1 odds and paid hefty prices. So, I did have both horses in my selections! I do have to admit that I didn't expect my long shot to win the race.

Regarding my Show bet predictions, Cafe Society, Transient, Shantisara, and Ivar came in the top 3 spots.

1/28/2023 -- Yay! Here we go with the first major race of 2023! A new fresh start! In Gulfstream Park card, there are huge fields that include the best horses vying for millions of dollars! My advice is to play Exacta BOX bets! If you like a particular horse, be sure to play your key horse front AND back in your exactas; i.e., Exacta Key Box! Include couple long shots too!

JOCKEY RICARDO SANTANA JR.