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The San Felipe at Santa Anita

The Triple Crown season is now in full swing with one of the most exciting editions of The San Felipe - Grade II., which typically features premiere West Coasts colts. This is certainly the case this season and in triplicate with McKinzie, Bolt D’Oro and Kanthaka.. This prestigious race has been one of the stops for several Winners including , and . The timing seems perfect, sitting about 4 weeks in front of the and then another 4 weeks to the Kentucky Derby. McKinzie is making his 2nd start of the season, Bolt D’Oro is making his 1st start of the 2018 season and Kanthaka is making his 2nd start, however the first time going around 2 turns to a route distance of a 1 1/16th mile. Usually there is a single colt or two, but here we have 3 special colts, they are already as fast as any horse who has run in this race in previous years – at this time!

Fast horses always get me going and each year we are hopeful, but then we sit back and realize we can’t have greatness every year, otherwise it would NOT be great – right! But this year is finally different, the talent level is so high, I am reminded of the halcyon days of the 70’s and the two exceptional years of 1973 -’s crop and 1978 -/’s crop. Over the years we have seen a number of amazing colts, from to , each of those great colts had a couple of other excellent horses to deal with. But in 1973 and 1978 and now 40 years later in 2018, we have a “phalanx” of exceptional colts.

Starting with McKinzie and Bolt D’Oro who have already run faster races than American Pharoah had run until he ran in his Kentucky Derby. McKinzie hit at 79.5 on my Speed Figures in January, still a 2-year old - in reality. And Bolt D’Oro broke the teletimer as a 2-year old on Sept 30, 2017, still just a young 2-year old. In fact, for today’s San Felipe, I have downgrade both colts off their best efforts, for one reason it’s natural enough for McKinzie to run a little off his big race in January and Bolt D’oro is coming off quite a layoff – he doesn’t need to do his best, he just need to get back in the swing. And then we have Kanthaka who ran a 78.8 in his sprint on Feb 10th, which was a total surprise! So, each of these amazingly fast colts has been rated “down” by me for today’s race.

I probably have a different and deeply personal reason for rating each of these colts, at something below the best numbers/races they have already run. Simply put, I hope they run something less than their best - so they can have their best for the Santa Anita Derby and of course the Kentucky Derby, it is typical for horses such as McKinzie and Kanthaka to be off their best after having run so sensationally in their preceding race. So, we don’t need these great horses, doing “too much, too soon”.

By the way, starting on March 6th and running all the way up to the KD, I am producing a weekly article for Gaming Today, doing a deep analysis of this season’s crop of amazing colts. It’s a great way to see some of my handicapping and hopefully learn some great handicapping ideas! One article every week for the next 8 weeks… Also, you can visit my web-site for coverage of all the colts heading toward this year’s Kentucky Derby

So, let’s fasten our seat belts and get ready for an exciting ride!

Today’s Featured Play is  Hopportunity in the Big Cap. Just looking past his last race, which was unusually poor. I am expecting a full return to form today, and that should be enough to boss this field. My Fair Value is 5/2, and that is just my opinion…

LEGEND * = Top Form (Highest Potential) (1) =Front Runner (m) = mudder Ship = Shipperwww.jerryjpowerpage.com (2) = Very fast Presser (p) =potential on off track N_R = Not Rateable ….= First Time Starter CAPS to emphasize

The Power Page offers a professional grading for each horse. The projected power number should hit approximately 33 % of the time. Horses who are assigned an (*) have the best chance to exceed their designated number. This handicapping aid is generated by the experience from using and studies of Jerry J’s Performance Pages. Past results are not a guarantee of future performance .  Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserve