Counting Down to the Big Day

Tweet Well the countdown has begun with just five days remaining to the big day! So much being written and so much of the various biases exposed in print over numerous horse racing sites across the web, whether professional sportswriters or general bloggers it seems everyone has an opinion (even astrologers) as to what will transpire in the "fastest two minutes in sports" next Saturday. I continue to gather information, statistics and read the many experts onsite clocking the workouts daily and reporting on how the horses look while working. The field appears to be set (barring injury) with 19 colts and 1 filly, with only post positions to be determined on Wednesday. Here are some random thoughts on each horse:

Pyro - draw a line through the Blue Grass, looking for him to catch a piece.
Tale of Ekati - winner of the Wood with improving Beyers has the pedigree of a sprinter, will probably look elsewhere.
Colonel John - gotta salute that bullet work, will be giving heavy consideration
Gayego - nice Beyers, west coast favorite, not sold on him yet, high dosage index
Big Brown - will try to beat him and play him in exacta savers, 2yo jinx, bad feet?
Z Humor - sire was miler, sprinter, throw out
Monba - liking him more everyday, Beyer in BlueGrass rivals Street Sense, could he be Pletcher's first?
Court Vision - have a future bet on him, but he's just not that fast
Z Fortune - really like his Ark Derby, the question is how much toll did it take on him, got the numbers, pedigree
Adriano - Prado choice turns heads, but maybe seeing big picture - BC Turf?
Recapturetheglory - one big performance, should be frontrunning, not sold on him.
Smooth Air - enigma, is he in top condition?
Cool Coal Man - see Court Vision
Anak Nakal - pass
Eight Belles - won't make same mistake twice (see 2007 Belmont)…will be a factor
Cowboy Cal - turfer, interesting pedigree
Visionaire - has talent to catch a piece.
Big Truck - sprinter pedigree, nice bullet work, interesting
Bob Black Jack - this year's Hard Spun?
Denis of Cork - nice pedigree, dosage index, maybe underneath in exotics.

We'll see how the all-important post positions unfold in the nationally televised (ESPN) draw from downtown Louisville on Wednesday and start dissecting it down to the top six or seven contenders before making our final selections on Saturday.