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All of the luster was taken out of this race following the defection of Nolo Contesto, and John Sadler and company must be thinking what might have been after watching Omaha Beach (2nd to Nolo Contesto Jan. 4) run off the screen in the race before the Robert Lewis.
A field of five left the gate in this Derby points race and heavy favorite Mucho Gusto chased aggressive front runner Magnificent McCool. Bob Baffert’s favorite put away the surface switching early runner and the race was basically over after six furlongs. Mucho Gusto splashed home by 4+ lengths over Sham (G3) hero Gunmetal Gray. The latter gamely wore down Easy Shot for the place, and Magnificent McCool was a couple more lengths back in 4th. Kid Cantina briefly attended the pace but took a bad step on the backstretch and was pulled up and vanned off. Unfortunately, he suffered a catastrophic injury and had to be put down.
I doubt that we saw the Derby winner here but Mucho Gusto joins Extra Hope as next-out dirt route winners from the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1). Those runners certainly flattered romping Los Al Futurity hero Improbable this week.
1st - Mucho Gusto - Ran his record to 3-for-4 and the Robert Lewis was his second graded triumph. Not bad for the third best Derby hopeful in the barn behind juvenile champ Game Winner and unbeaten Los Al Futurity (G1) winner Improbable.
2nd - Gunmetal Gray - Had no shot as a closer racing on a speed conductive wet track but he tried hard in the stretch and got up for the place in a solid effort. His only off the board finish in four graded routes was a 5th of 13 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
3rd - Easy Shot - 5th place Sham Stakes (G3) finisher got much closer to Gunmetal Gray in this race, but I think the wet track and short field had much to do with that. I do not think that he is going to improve as competition gets tougher and distances increase.
4th - Magnificent McCool - I thought he would be sent to the lead in this spot, and that was his only real chance to succeed. He was not able to use the speed bias to his advantage and faded to 4th. He looked good breaking his maiden in a turf route from off the pace Dec. 28 and figures to return to that surface in the near future.
Article by Jarrod Horak
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Mucho Gusto capture above courtesy of Today's Racing Digest.
You can read all of my Derby blogs on my Kentucky Derby 2019 page, and my annual Triple Crown full card analysis from Churchill Downs, Pimlico Race Course, and Belmont Park will be available on my Runaway Horse Sales page later this spring.
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