Here are the PPs of interest for Friday:
Race 6 is the La Troienne:
http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/brisw...9/summary.html
[ URL above, May 6, 2022, Churchill Downs - Race 6, PPs]
On a dry track, it looks like
Shedaresthedevil over
Paulines Peril. The latter shows one good start over the slop, but likely she overmatched her competitors anyway.
Temper Time and
Jilted Bride seem to step up on an off track. Pedigrees are no help here.
BTW, who was
La Troienne? She was the bluest of blue hen mares.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Troienne
You can find her in the pedigrees of many Thoroughbreds including as the 9th broodmare of
Essential Quality.
Race 7 is the Alysheba:
http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/brisw...9/summary.html
[ URL above, May 6, 2022, Churchill Downs - Race 7, PPs]
Olympiad is one of the hottest handicap horses in the county, and has never run on the slop; but he is a grandson of super slop sire
Gone West, so expect him to get along in the mud swimmingly. Also of interest is
Max Player who occasionally throws in a superior race, and won the Suburban on a sloppy track. Then there is
Happy Saver, trained by Todd Pletcher. A very dangerous horse by Super slop sire
Super Saver. Remember Super Saver won on this track in one of the wettest KYD's in history.
Race 9 is the 8Belles:
http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/brisw...9/summary.html
[ URL above, May 6, 2022, Churchill Downs - Race 9, PPs]
On the surface,
Matareya and
Marissa's Lady are your favorites.
Pretty Birdie has one of the few notable mud lines; she apparently forgot her umbrella and hates it. On pedigree,
Sweet As Pie has Smart Strike as a broodmare sire. Smart Strike is a superior mudder producer; might consider her.
Race 11 is the Kentucky Oaks:
http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/brisw...9/summary.html
[ URL above, May 6, 2022, Churchill Downs - Race 11, PPs]
Echo Zulu is your undefeated 2YO champion; but she only won by a nose in her comeback win this year. That was her only start. Why did she come back so late? She was obviously short? Can she make up for the lack of conditioning (and did she move forward off that race? Probably but by how much?).
Nest only had one loss, in November. But has been perfect and impressive since then. Likely to be a co-favorite, and likely in better shape, but is she a better talent?
Secret Oath looked like a brute, until she extended to 1 1/8 miles (the length of this race) and met the boys. She seemed to flatten out at the end of the mile.
Kathleen O, the undefeated upstart by
Upstart ('u's are free). She runs from off the pace and made a big move in the mud to break her maiden.
Nostalgic came from off the pace to nip a tiring, but fast
Venti Valentine in the Gazelle; they could be there since they probably trained in the worst conditions of all of these.
If I was picking a Triple, it would be Kathleen O, Echo Zulu, Nest.
Unless someone gets loose on the lead, this should be a fantastic race.
Larry
DevilHorse