Another Saratoga Special winner, steps up to the plate and WINS ...... while two other top leaders fail!

In last week's column, I spoke about two horses that could "step up" to the top of the Kentucky Derby prep standings with victories in their respective races. With both Classic Empire and McCracken cropping up with minor issues before their next prep races, Irish War Cry and El Areeb could have moved to the top with victories last weekend. But it became apparently clear after the dust settled, that neither could capitalize with their efforts. Instead, another runner who has been very consistent throughout his short career has risen to the top.

In the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, El Areeb was going for three straight stakes victories in a row at 2-5, but as they turned into the stretch he came up empty fading to third. The winner, J Boys Echo (who was soundly beaten by El Areeb last time the faced each other) won going away and earned 50 points toward the Kentucky Derby. El Areeb's effort sent him down my list and is now questionable in getting the mile an quarter derby distance.

The Florida Derby had even money favorite; Irish War Cry who was no factor, never gaining the lead and finishing a very dull seventh. He came out of the race, clean the next day and his trainer Graham Motion had no explanation for his horrible effort. Practical Joke, coming off third place in last Fall's Breeder's Cup Juvenile returned to the races with a good middle move running second and should move forward. But the real big winner this weekend was a colt who was a graded stakes winner last summer at Saratoga as a two year old and reminds me of a horse last year on the derby trail who held his form and became a Triple Crown race winner in the Preakness. That horse was Exaggerator, who was a solid runner from his two year old campaign right through mid summer last year.

The winner of the Fountain of Youth last Saturday; Gunnevera mirrors him. Trained by local Gulfstream connections; Antonio Sano, this son of Dialed In won the Saratoga Special last year (as did Exaggerator in 2015) continued to hold his form in the Fall winning the Delta Jackpot and ran second in the Holy Bull Stakes last out. Overlooked a bit here as the third choice at 4-1, Gunnevera rallied drawing off by nearly six lengths to victory. Now, he is at the top of my Kentucky Derby list. A winner of four out of eight career starts, Gunnevera has the right running style and seems he should have no problem getting the mile and a quarter distance. While the two logical runners failed, a consistent runner takes advantage and moves right to the top!

Here is my current Derby dozen, eight weeks out of the First Saturday in May. 1) Gunnevera 2) McCracken 3) Practical Joke 4) Classic Empire 5) One Liner 6) Gormley 7) Mastery 8) J Boys Echo 9) Girvin 10) Irish War Cry 11) El Areeb 12) American Anthem. Both Gormley and Mastery are racing in the San Felipe Stakes today at Santa Anita going a mile and a sixteenth and the Tampa Bay Derby a field of ten with the Todd Pletcher trainee; Tapwrit who was the runner-up behind McCracken in the Sam Davis Stakes prep for this as the likely favorite. My selections for the San Felipe Stakes (SA 7th) are 4-6-5-3 and in the Tampa Bay Derby (TAM 11th) : 8-5-4-9.