Brad and John on Bob and John

- There’s always more than one way to look at things in this game, and two writers who I like and respect very much take different views of Bob and John (Seeking the Gold), the likely favorite in the San Felipe. To the Form’s Brad Free, he’s part of what he terms a pleasant cast of allowance-caliber 3-year-olds taking part in the race.

Bob and John's last-start Beyer Speed Figure is 102, which would mean something if he earned it like a real stakes horse. But he did not. In the Grade 3 Sham, Bob and John pushed a weak pace and ran away from weak rivals.

I don’t know what it is sometimes with a race like this in which there’s a favorite that dominates his field. For one thing, what’s so weak about third place finisher Sacred Light, whose form is starting to resemble that of pre-Derby Giacomo? And he won by 4 ½, what was he supposed to do; how many lengths would make it acceptable? 15 maybe? It’s almost like Free is penalizing the horse for the sheer fact that he ran against a field that he deemed to be weak.

John Pricci, on MSNBC.com takes a longer-term view of Baffert’s colt.

The fact Bob And John is about 6 lengths behind Derby par, more than that behind divisional-leading Brother Derek, can be a good thing: He has more room to improve, to grow into a serious Derby presence, the timing that might enable him to peak on May’s first Saturday. The San Felipe gets him to the Santa Anita Derby. He’ll need to be ready for the race of his life prior to the race of everyone’s life in Louisville.

I like Bob and John and I've been following his progress and anticipating more; I like his trainer and love his bloodlines. He’ll still face questions of class even if he beats this field, but it will set up the Santa Anita Derby nicely if he does.