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EYE ON LIVE

EYE ON LIVE (cont'd)

1. “Stretch” (left) and Marshall -- watch them and track announcer Kirt Contois on “ASD Live” before and between races

   Load up your HPIbet account and download your ASD programs as soon as they become available. Better yet, call the Downs at 204-885-3330 ext. 225 to have a deposit picked up and programs for the first three days of racing dropped off. If you haven’t logged into your HPI account since last September, refresh yourself. 
2. Pay attention to horses that have raced this year, if there are any. Even lower class ones have a fitness edge to start the year.
3. Does a horse have sprinter speed or is it a deep closer? Short distances such as four or five furlongs are often won gate-to-wire so figure out who’s fastest early in the race. And pay attention to race shape.
4. Check out trainer stats. Some are better at getting horses ready off a long layoff while others need their horses to have a start or two before they’re primed to run their best.
5. Check out workouts. Is there a steady pattern of workouts, equally distanced apart? This could give you strong clues about which horses are ready to run off the shelf.
6. Look at the horse's record at the distance of today's race. Is this a prep race for a miler or a sprinter who’s ready to roll?
7. Look at last year’s jockey’s standings to see if any of the top jocks are back. The best jockeys usually ride the best horses.
8. When handicapping, look at a horse’s back class, not just their last race. Handicap from the bottom up instead of top down at the beginning of the season.
9. Watch the post parade for any physical clues about how a horse is doing. Also check for equipment changes, blinkers on or off, bandages on or off, etc.
10. Watch “ASD Live” every race day to get analysis and Best Bets from Kirt, Marshall and “Stretch”!

Topsy-turvey Triple Crown
Kentucky Derby is now the middle jewel in the Crown

It’s the Year of the Asterisk and you’re living it

It may not have occurred to you, but this is the Year of the Asterisk and you’re plunk in the middle of it. Decades from now, 2020 will have an asterisk beside it because the Triple Crown races are jumbled up and one is being run at a shorter distance.

What was the longest of the Triple Crown races, the Belmont Stakes, is now the shortest and is being run first instead of last, the Kentucky Derby is to be run in late summer instead of the spring and the Preakness, which is scheduled for a month later, could become the most consequential Preakness ever because it could determine whether we have a Triple Crown winner or not. Never has this kind of pressure befallen the Preakness. Here are the exact dates:

• Belmont Stakes -- reduced from 1 ½-mile to 1 1/8-mile -- to be run Saturday, June 20
• Kentucky Derby -- 1 ¼-mile race to be run Saturday, Sept. 5
• Preakness Stakes -- 1 3/16-mile race to be run Saturday, Oct. 3

At the same time, brand new prep races are being hatched--about 10 of them--to give 3-year-olds a chance to gather more points to qualify to be among 20 entering the Kentucky Derby. That puts extra pressure on trainers to do the right thing at the right time. Look at how simple it was for Justify to win the Triple Crown in 2018. His entire career lasted from February to June.

This year, there’s a three-month gap between the Belmont and the Derby. How do you have a horse razor-sharp for each of them? And then be ready for the Preakness a month later as well? The drama heightens in the Year of the Asterisk.