Invasor Looks Special

- Wanderin Boy, the 4-5 favorite in the Pimlico Special, didn’t look like he would get beat as he turned for home, least of all by Invasor (Candy Stripes), who looked like he was done when he was passed by West Virginia, and perhaps even by Harlington, on the final turn. “Invasor coming back for more!” announcer Dave Rodman noted with surprise as the four-year old (by North American standards) rallied up the inside (after brushing West Virginia on the way). The winner paid $14.40 for a happy trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who will saddle Like Now in the Preakness.

Invasor ran 4th, beaten by seven lengths by Discreet Cat [EDIT - in the UAE Derby], and Walter is amongst those of us wondering what is going on with him. The last news of him on the Godolphin website was the April 18th report that he would skip the Derby, and will instead be shipped to the US and stabled at Belmont Park where he will be prepared for some of the major races in the second half of the season. But there have been no timed workouts, and who knows if he’s even here yet? Nonetheless, his stock is certainly up now after this race. And Testimony, who actually beat Invasor in Dubai, goes in the Peter Pan at Belmont on Saturday.

A claim of foul on Dominguez by West Virginia’s rider Noberto Arroyo was disallowed. But the same two riders were involved in the prior race, the Black Eyed Susan, when Arroyo was taken down on Smart’N’Pretty for drifting out into Dominguez on the declared winner Regal Engagement (Cat Thief). Watching the head-on, you see the two fillies leaning on each other, and suddenly Arroyo bears out, forcing Dominguez to steady. Arroyo, however, explained "She bumped my hind end and turned me sideways." Losing trainer Dale Romans said that "could have gone either way." [Daily Racing Form]

For Regal Engagement’s struggling sire, Cat Thief, it’s a stakes win but not a new stakes winner, as the filly was already one of his two stakes winners.

Pool Land was pretty damn impressive winning the Allaire du Pont Breeders' Cup Distaff, and the Pletcher trainee is a two-turn monster, with a perfect four-for-four.

- Great stuff by Jerry Bailey on the ESPN telecast of the Special. He spoke about how the seas more or less parted for Barbaro after the start of the Derby. As he stumbled coming out of the gate, you see the horses to each side breaking away from him, which gave him a clear lane through which to recover. Bailey explained that there is no penalty for a horse brushing another in that first step coming out of the gate, and he said that he would sometimes try to intentionally have his horse come out and into a particular rival, if the situation called for it! He implicitly encouraged Alex Solis and/or Kent Desormeaux to do the same to Barbaro if they wanted to have a chance to beat him. They also showed Bailey's winning ride on Red Bullet in the 2000 Preakness. During the replay, he explained how he rushed the horse up towards the front quicker than he normally would have, so that he could gain position on Fusaichi Pegasus coming into the stretch, and force him to go around him. And again, he suggested that Alex Solis have similar positions established on Barbaro as they turn for home.

- On a subsequent half hour ESPN Preakness special, Jay Privman of the Form tried to make his case for Sweetnorthernsaint by showing a tape of the 1985 Kentucky Derby, in which Tank’s Prospect made a big move up the inside similar to what SNS did this year. Tank’s Prospect went on to win the Preakness. But one of the other guys on the show pointedly noted that that year's Derby winner, Spend A Buck, didn’t run in the Preakness.

In fact, Spend A Buck skipped the Preakness, and a chance at the Triple Crown, to run in the Jersey Derby instead, and thus go for a $2 million bonus that was offered by Garden State Park owner Robert Brennan, Jr, for any horse that could win two Derby preps there, plus the Kentucky and Jersey Derbys. Pimlico president Chick Lang called Brennan a "a snake-oil salesman,” an observation that later proved to be true when a federal judge labeled his penny stock business a "massive and continuing fraud" for which he was fined $75 million.[NJ Star Ledger) He’s currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for bankruptcy fraud. The $5 million Triple Crown bonus was instituted in 1987 to prevent future defections.

The really interesting thing about Spend A Buck is that the two preps that he won were the Cherry Hill Mile, on April 6, and the Garden State Stakes, on April 20. So Spend A Buck went into the Derby after running twice in the preceding month! These days, that would be far more radical than even the one prep in 13 week strategy employed by Michael Matz. Yet it was just 21 years ago. Well, I guess that’s a long time. It just doesn’t seem that way.