Sunday Night Notes

- Scrappy T took the G3 Withers yesterday, with Survivalist, Naughty New Yorker and, especially, Proud Accolade far behind. I guess it's not just the one-turn issue bothering Proud Accolade. Naughty New Yorker has to be a spent horse; and Shug McGaughey made the right decision skipping the Derby with Survivalist. I think it’s fair to say that Bellamy Road didn’t beat all that much in the Wood.

Scrappy T is now a possibility for the Preakness. He’s another horse who started his career at Delaware Park, and has improved nicely for trainer Robert Bailes. His venerable sire the multiple grade 1 winner Fit to Fight, is still advertised for $5,000 at Lane’s End, at the age of 26 - he had a crop of 29 2 year olds in 2004. Fit to Fight won the G1 Brooklyn at a mile and a half; Scrappy T has inbreeding to Bold Ruler and Princequillo, and has shown a lot of gameness, so while the Preakness may be a stretch, he looks like a nice colt.

Fit to Fight had a second stakes winner Saturday, as his Fighting Fever took the Illinois-bred Governor’s Lady Handicap.

- The NY Post’s Ed Fountaine describes Bellamy Road as a towering, muscular colt with a lightning turn of foot - imagine Shaq with Jesse Owens. Haskin describes his Sunday workout:

..he quickly settled into a nice rhythmic stride through fractions of :12 4/5, :24 2/5, and :36 3/5. .... He changed leads smoothly, and Correa kept her hands perfectly still and let the colt rumble down the stretch all on his own. Reaching out with those enormous strides, he leveled off and came home his final eighth in about :11 1/5, with his ears up most of the way.
.....
You can see how Bellamy Road is able is pummel his opponents into the ground. He is intimidating, powerful, and takes one stride to other horses' two. With this work out of the way, you pretty much have your Derby favorite. [Bloodhorse]

I’m hearing 3-1 or 7-2 as an approximation of what his odds could be; I think that’s high. I know it's a large field, so I could be wrong, but I don't see him more than 5-2. As good as Bandini and Afleet Alex's last races were, they pale in some ways to what Bellamy Road did in the Wood, and I think that will be reflected in the betting pools on Saturday.