Spun Out To Dry

- A nightmare trip for Hard Spun from the outside post position in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn. That was a factor that those who made him the prohibitive 1-2 choice may not have paid enough attention to. He broke a step slow, and the short run into the first turn gave him no time to recover. He was caught extremely wide going into the turn, and was asked to rally from several lengths off the pace for the first time in his life. He put in an exciting move while four wide on the turn, but never got within shouting distance of the loose on the lead . Considering how much ground Hard Spun lost, I thought he showed some class finishing just three lengths behind the winner, whom he beat by nine lengths in the LeComte when he was the one with the quicker break from an inside post.

The final quarter of 26.14 won't get people excited, but Oaklawn produces some pretty slow times in route races - two cheap claiming races at the distance went 1:41 and 1:42.4 - so I won't write the field off before seeing some figures. The folks in the Philly area add a lot of enthusiasm to the Derby picture when one of theirs is around, so I hope we'll see Hard Spun bounce back next time (and perhaps present some value). By Danzig, out of a mare by the champion Turkoman, Hard Spun's second dam is a half-sister to the stretch-running Preakness/Belmont winner Little Current.

Teuflesberg, who made his 13th start, has suddenly now won three of four since getting buried in the Juvenile. He's been in training straight through since last April, so in the unlikely event that he's your 2007 Kentucky Derby winner, that would certainly cause a sudden change in the debate, wouldn't it? Seems like reason in itself to join the Teuflesberg fan club. He's by Johnannesburg out of a Devil's Bag mare, and the most interesting aspect of his pedigree to me is the fact that he is inbred 5x4 to the broodmare State (Nijinksy), with both sire and dam tracing to her tail-female. State is the dam of Narrate, who is the dam of Preach (and the 4th dam of Johannesburg), who's the dam of the fashionable young sire Pulpit (AP Indy).

- Padua has purchased a share of Any Given Saturday from Winstar. I imagine they paid more than they would have if they made the purchase before the colt won the Davis on Saturday, but I don't believe that they really know much more about him based on his facile win against inferior competition.