KY DERBY TRAIL: NILE FLOWING FAST
Excerpt from an article taken from Blood Horse on-line by Steve Haskin
It was an excellent weekend on the old trail, with some first-class performances, not only by the winners, but several of the losers as well. The latest Top 15 follows the column.
From a visual and statistical standpoint, Pioneerof the Nile’s victory in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (Grade 2) was as impressive as we’ve seen this year. Sure, there were more brilliant performances with outrageous speed figures, but the bottom line is, Pioneerof the Nile (EMPIRE MAKER) looked like a Kentucky Derby winner, at least on a synthetic track.
So, here we go again. As impressive as he’s been, he’ll be going into the Run for the Roses without ever having raced on dirt. That gives him a big question mark over his head. He could love the dirt, but the simple fact is, we won’t know until runs on it, and he’ll be doing so for the first time in a likely 20-horse field.
That aside, his Lewis victory stamps him as one of the top two or three Derby contenders. He has the right pedigree, the right running style, the right trainer, the right jockey, the right physical attributes, and he can lay some heavy-duty closing fractions on you. He demonstrated a dogged determination in running down his opponents that you like to see in a young horse. Also, watching the head-on, you had to like the way he holds his legs under him; everything in perfect position – no paddling, very little space between his legs, no cocking of the head, and no drifting. Many of the major aspects that made his victory so impressive are mentioned in his comment below on the Top 15 list, the most notable being he looked more like a European horse, the way he leveled off, lowered his head, and came charging home with quick, but long strides. Unlike the lumbering, long-striding type, he is cat-like, which is what made him look more like an invader from Newmarket or Chantilly or Ballydoyle than a typical American horse. Now, let’s see if he can duplicate all that on dirt.
Date:
10 February 2009