Weekend Winners Club

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Monday, March 20
Churchill Downs
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This week’s Derby Dozen features some changes based on some performances and non-performances last weekend. No change for the top 3, who are locked in for now but could change next week due to the high volatility in the market this year.
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It was necessary to move up Malagacy (who we got at 53-1 in Derby Pool 3) after his impressive Rebel G2 win. Several of the other promising contenders in that race were in the top 25 last week just didn’t perform well and had to be demoted. Two finished 3rd and 4th, and Sonneteer gets into the top 10 with a blazing close for 2nd, giving Keith Desormeaux a serious Derby contender again this year.
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As luck would have it, Pletcher now has 3 in the top 5, with his top 3 all scoring wins and points last out. One of them needs championship series points but should get them. Chad Brown has 2 runners-up at 7 and 8, and O’Neill has a pair at 16 and 17. That’s just how it turned out.
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Baffert is left with 1 that may contend after a horrible finish in the Rebel, and the injury to Mastery. It’s hard to imagine a Kentucky Derby without Bob. Steve Asmussen also has a low pair with one about to drop out of contention.
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Right now Pletcher’s royal 3 of a kind is looking the strongest from a trainer’s perspective, but the proven Dale Romans and relatively unknown Antonio Sano have aces in the hole. Mark Casse’s wild card was the top 2yo but must fully recover from injury to prep once more, because his points are short.
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The top 25 as we see it right now, in order:

Rank	Horse	Sire	Trainer	Fin	Race	Date	Pts	Next (Probable)
1	Gunnevera	Dialed In	Sano Antonio	1st	FOY G2	4-Mar	64	Fla Derby G1 4/1
2	J Boys Echo	Mineshaft	Romans Dale	1st	Gotham G3	4-Mar	53	Wood Mem G1 4/8
3	One Liner	Into Mischief	Pletcher Todd A	1st	Southwest G3	20-Feb	10	La Derby G2 4/1
4	Tapwrit	Tapit	Pletcher Todd A	1st	TB Derby G2	11-Mar	54	Blue Grass G1 4/8
5	Malagacy	Shackleford	Pletcher Todd A	1st	Rebel G2	18-Mar	50	Ark Derby G1 4/18
6	Classic Empire	Pioneerof The Nile	Casse Mark	3rd	Holy Bull G3	4-Feb	32	Blue Grass G1 4/8
7	Cloud Computing	Maclean’S Music	Brown Chad C	2nd	Gotham G3	4-Mar	20	Wood Mem G1 4/8
8	Practical Joke	Into Mischief	Brown Chad C	2nd	FOY G2	4-Mar	34	Fla Derby G1 4/1
9	Mccraken	Ghostzapper	Wilkes Ian R	1st	Sam Davis G3	11-Feb	10	Spiral G3 3/25
10	Sonneteer	Midnight Lute	Desormeaux Keith	2nd	Rebel G2	18-Mar	20	Ark Derby G1 4/18
11	Untrapped	Trappe Shot	Asmussen Steven M	3rd	Rebel G2	18-Mar	34	Ark Derby G1 4/18
12	Girvin	Tale Of Ekati	Sharp Joe	1st	Risen Star G2	25-Feb	50	La Derby G2 4/1
13	Unique Bella (f)	More Than Ready	Hollendorfer J	1st	Santa Ysabel G2	4-Mar	0	SA Oaks G1 4/7
14	El Areeb	Exchange Rate	Lynch Cathal	3rd	Gotham G3	4-Mar	30	Wood Mem G1 4/8
15	Irish War Cry	Curlin	Motion H Graham	7th	FOY G2	4-Mar	10	Blue Grass G1 4/8
16	Iliad	Ghostzapper	O’Neill Doug	2nd	San Felipe G2	11-Mar	20	SA Derby G1 4/8
17	Term of Art	Tiznow	O’Neill Doug	3rd	San Felipe G2	11-Mar	11	SA Derby G1 4/8
18	Gormley	Malibu Moon	Shirreffs John	4th	San Felipe G2	11-Mar	25	SA Derby G1 4/8
19	Petrov	Flatter	Moquett Ronald E	4th	Rebel G2	18-Mar	13	Ark Derby G1 4/18
20	Guest Suite (g)	Quality Road	Howard Neil J	4th	Risen Star G2	25-Feb	15	La Derby G2 4/1
21	Epicharis (JPN)	Gold Allure	Hagiwara Kiyoshi	1st	Hyacinth	19-Feb	50	UAE Derby G1 3/25
22	Lookin At Lee	Lookin At Lucky	Asmussen Steven M	6th	Rebel G2	18-Mar	12	Ark Derby G1 4/18
23	Mo Town	Uncle Mo	Dutrow Anthony W	5th	Risen Star G2	25-Feb	10	Wood Mem G1 4/8
24	State Of Honor	To Honor And Serve	Casse Mark	2nd	TB Derby G2	11-Mar	22	Fla Derby G1 4/1
25	American Anthem	Bodemeister	Baffert Bob	10th	Rebel G2	18-Mar	4	SA Derby G1 4/8

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