1/27/24

  2  OP    The Southwest (GIII) [KYD]     

$800.000  3yo    1 1/16m  Dirt    121lbs

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To be this early in the Road To The TC, I was quite happy without selections today…  predicted the upset, still nailed the exacta and three horses in the top four… while mentioning the other favorably in the comments… success!!  Speaking of success, how about Bad Debt?  The Hippyheart conditioned sophomore took a four-horse photo to prove once and for all, he does belong with the elite of this class.  Close finishes in a pair of graded races, you can now chalk-up a big win as he set the pace throughout Saturday’s Southwest (GIII) and hung on late to prove best in that bang-bang-bang-bang finish.  Baffert did nothing to tarnish his reputation, closing like the monster he is to narrowly miss the victory, while taking the second spot.  Safe to say, as the distances grow, he will just keep getting better… and that is scary.  Hoku saw his perfect record come to an end, but again, nothing to blink at here as he was third, just a neck back, with the lightly raced, yet impressive Jurassic Park another nose back in fourth… that’s a quarter length first-to-fourth.  The final time was 1:43.19 over the OP oval, listed as Good.  We did have one late scratch, Poison Arrow, and a mere six lengths covered the field of thirteen. 

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