Apr 24 2017
2017 Kentucky Derby Final 1/4 Mile Times in Contender Preps
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Monday, April 24
Churchill Downs
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We’re doing things a bit differently and will be sharing some new tidbits of information every day leading up to the Kentucky Derby.
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One of the factors in the Derby Grid is the Final 1/4 mile times in the final preps of the Derby contenders, which is used by serious handicappers.
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The official criteria is “Ran final 1/4 mile in less than 26 seconds,” but like all of the other criteria, 1 missed criterion doesn’t eliminate the horse.
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For example, Irish War Cry came in at 26.1, which is real close and shouldn’t be used to disqualify him. However, I am throwing out all horses that were above 26.5 altogether, as I didn’t like them to begin with, and there’s not way they’ll hold up in the final quarter of the 10 furlong Derby.
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Fortunately, this crop is quite competitive, and the average time they scored was 25.7. The winner of this contest is Sonneteer, who many of us believe is the best closer in the field. He came home in an astounding 23.9 in the Arkansas, and would be the only maiden in the field if he gets into the race.
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OK enough babble. Here are the numbers:
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Rank | Horse | Final 1/4 |
1 | Sonneteer | 23.94 |
2 | Gunnevera | 24.23 |
3 | Always Dreaming | 24.53 |
4 | Lookin At Lee | 24.54 |
5 | Classic Empire | 24.81 |
6 | Hence | 24.99 |
7 | Thunder Snow (IRE) | 25.02 |
8 | State of Honor | 25.13 |
9 | Girvin | 25.3 |
10 | Practical Joke | 25.39 |
11 | Patch | 25.4 |
12 | Irap | 25.54 |
13 | Malagacy | 25.56 |
14 | McCraken | 25.69 |
15 | Untrapped | 25.89 |
16 | J Boys Echo | 25.91 |
17 | Irish War Cry | 26.1 |
18 | Gormley | 26.6 |
19 | Tapwrit | 26.74 |
20 | Cloud Computing | 26.84 |
21 | Battalion Runner | 26.86 |
22 | Battle of Midway | 27.03 |
23 | Royal Mo | 27.06 |
24 | Fast and Accurate** | 27.33 |
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As you can see, if we’re talking about closing speed, Fast and Accurate needs a name change.