Tomorrow's $1.25m Pennsylvania Derby has drawn a mouthwatering field that includes the first three past the post in this year's Kentucky Derby. However, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since the first Saturday in May, and now all three have questions to answer.
Nyquist was an impressive champion that day. But he has since finished third and fourth in the Preakness and the Haskell at short-priced odds and is now on a recovery mission.
Exaggerator, second to Nyquist at Churchill Downs, reversed the form when winning both the Preakness and the Haskell in commanding fashion. However, both those runs were on sloppy tracks and he has also run two below-par races - in the Belmont and the Travers. Will he be able to perform on the predicted fast track at Parx Racing tomorrow?
Arguably the most consistent of the three has been Kentucky Derby third Gun Runner. He returned from a break to win the G3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs before running creditably in both the Haskell and the Travers. He is pretty well guaranteed to run another strong race, and there is every chance that this could be his day in the sun.
This is, however, by no means a three-horse race. Bob Baffert sends out Cupid, who, after a poor start to the season, comes here on the back of two G2 wins in the Indiana and West Virginia Derbys. Summer Revolution, Awesome Slew and Sunny Ridge are the next three in the betting and are all good horses in their own right.
My thoughts are that, back on a fast track and with a return to off-the-pace tactics, Nyquist will be very hard to beat. But what do you think?