Meet Ky derby hopeful number 1... Union Rags
Triple Crown season is officially around the corner with a little more than 3 weeks until the first leg of the triple crown; the derby. With an extremely talented field in this year's derby, some may be at odds on who to bet on to win. I dont have a particular favorite but I do like a few and over the next fews days, I will give my analysis on them. Meet contestant number 1, Union Rags . Hes a charming fella aint he? Beautiful creature eh? I became familiar with him during the 2011 breeders cup juvenile, which I was unable to watch. I really like his pedigree, mainly because he is a relative to the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos. He is out of the same grandsire- Dixieland band. Looking at his pedigree you see that he out of some pretty big name horses such as Dixie Union out of Dixieland band, Secrettame which out of Secretariat and Seattle Slew. So he has some endurance in his pedigree that could allow him to go the distances necessary, and he has some speed in his pedigree. Why do I like him? Well first, his trainer is the trainer of 2006 Ky derby winner Barbaro. Call me superstitious, but I believe this is a sign. Michael Matz loses his triple crown hopeful in the Preakness, and 6 years later, gains this beautiful colt that has a chance to follow in Barbaro's footsteps. Union Rags reminds me of Barbaro... hes huge, he has character and he has beautiful eyes. I was really looking forward to seeing him win the Florida Derby but I knew he was going to be challennged by Take Charge Indy. Why? Take Charge Indy's daddy was AP Indy.... which makes him a direct relative to Seattle Slew and Secretariat. Watching his Florida Derby, I believe he got a very bad trip. If you re-watch the race , you can clearly see he breaks slowly and gets squeezed and boxed in by other horses. I was very impressed by his speed at the end, being able to be almost dead last and still get third, very close to a second place finish. I gotta hand it to Take Charge Indy for leading the whole race and finishing first.
Do I think Union Rags is a dangerous factor in the derby? Yes.. My opinion from most of his races is, he is a very immature horse. He is maturing more each race, and it showed in the Florida Derby that he is still a little "green". Given time to mature, and rest... he will definitely be a serious derby threat. He has the breeding to go the distance, the breeding to be a champion, it all comes down to jockey decisions and his maturity by post time in the derby.
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