Derby Doings

- Nah, I'm not nearly ready to talk about next year's Kentucky Derby, but here's a note about this year's. At least five horses that I know of who contested the 2008 Derby ran this past weekend; and four of them did so extremely well, three of those in Grade 1 stakes - though I think that one can reasonably opine that only one of the stakes runners should have been a winner. Perhaps they're trying to make a statement that the three-year old crop isn't as weak as we've made them out to be.

But the fact is that neither the Kentucky Derby, nor, to an extent, the Trail which leads to it, is a fair barometer on which to rate that year's three-year old crop. Each of the Derby horses who performed well over the weekend has found his niche - Court Vision and Cowboy Cal as grass horses, Tale of Ekati as a one-turn specialist, and Gayego, who set a track record on the Hollywood Derby undercard, as a sprinter. I think you could say unequivocally that two of those were intended for their present role all along, and were diverted from their true destiny by Derby fever. And I think we can do the same regarding Tale of Ekati with just a little hindsight thrown in. Good thing for the connections - and the horses - that they survived their misguided journeys of deluded grandeur and were able to move on. Court Vision I think was mostly good luck for an outfit having a whole lot of that this year.

Both Tale of Ekati and Court Vision are going to Florida, both apparently to race again next year. That's not a given for Grade 1 winners, especially one co-owned by Winstar as is the latter.