Weekend Winners Club

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Monday, April 3, 2017
Churchill Downs
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This week we keep the top 3 intact, despite 5 new championship series winners since the last top 24, two weeks ago. Gunnevera stays on top despite losing the Florida Derby, a race he didn’t need to win, and probably could not have with Always Dreaming having it all his way in the breakout performance for Todd Pletcher.
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In the Kentucky Derby, there should be enough speed in the field, and an extra furlong, for closers such as Gunnevera and J Boys Echo to make significant moves down the stretch. One Liner has tactical speed and has finished well in all 3 career races. So those 3 stay at the top.
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It’s very tempting to move all 4 of Pletcher’s top steeds to the 1-4 positions, because Antonio Sano is relatively unknown, and Romans’ colt really only has one significant win, but we will wait until Super Saturday April 8, to make changes. Next weekend will include the G1 races: Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Wood Memorial.
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Even so, whoever wins the Arkansas Derby G1 on the 15th may be promoted to #1, and that will likely be one of Pletcher’s top quartet. The only problem with the Arkansas is that it’s only 3 weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which puts the horse on a grueling schedule of running the Preakness 2 weeks later if it is to become a Triple Crown champion, always a temptation for Derby winners.
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So here’s the top 24 for now, in order as we see it, in an ever-changing order this year, unlike last year’s which remained quite static all year. You can bet there will be some turmoil over the next two weeks with the major preps and some new champions.
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Rank	Horse	Sire	Trainer	Fin	Race	Date	Pts	Next (Probable)	In
1	Gunnevera	Dialed In	Sano Antonio	3rd	Fla Derby G1	1-Apr	84	Kentucky Derby 5/6	Y
2	J Boys Echo	Mineshaft	Romans Dale	1st	Gotham G3	4-Mar	53	Blue Grass G1 4/8	Y
3	One Liner	Into Mischief	Pletcher Todd A	1st	Southwest G3	20-Feb	10	Ark Derby G1 4/15
4	Always Dreaming	Bodemeister	Pletcher Todd A	1st	Fla Derby G1	1-Apr	100	Kentucky Derby 5/6	Y
5	Tapwrit	Tapit	Pletcher Todd A	1st	TB Derby G2	11-Mar	54	Blue Grass G1 4/8	Y
6	Malagacy	Shackleford	Pletcher Todd A	1st	Rebel G2	18-Mar	50	Ark Derby G1 4/15	Y
7	Girvin	Tale Of Ekati	Sharp Joe	1st	La Derby G2	1-Apr	150	Kentucky Derby 5/6	Y
8	Classic Empire	Pioneerof The Nile	Casse Mark	3rd	Holy Bull G3	4-Feb	32	Ark Derby G1 4/15
9	Cloud Computing	Maclean’S Music	Brown Chad C	2nd	Gotham G3	4-Mar	20	Wood Mem G1 4/8
10	Practical Joke	Into Mischief	Brown Chad C	2nd	FOY G2	4-Mar	34	Blue Grass G1 4/8
11	Thunder Snow (Ire)	Helmet	Suroor Saeed	1st	UAE Derby G1	25-Mar	100	Kentucky Derby 5/6	Y
12	Mccraken	Ghostzapper	Wilkes Ian R	1st	Sam Davis G3	11-Feb	10	Blue Grass G1 4/8
13	Sonneteer	Midnight Lute	Desormeaux Keith	2nd	Rebel G2	18-Mar	20	Ark Derby G1 4/15
14	Battalion Runner	Unbridled’S Song	Pletcher Todd A	1st	OC75k-n1x	3-Feb	0	Wood Mem G1 4/8
15	Untrapped	Trappe Shot	Asmussen Steven M	3rd	Rebel G2	18-Mar	34	Ark Derby G1 4/15
16	El Areeb	Exchange Rate	Lynch Cathal	3rd	Gotham G3	4-Mar	30	Wood Mem G1 4/8
17	Irish War Cry	Curlin	Motion H Graham	7th	FOY G2	4-Mar	10	Wood Mem G1 4/8
15	Hence	Street Boss	Asmussen Steven M	1st	Sun Derby G3	26-Mar	50	Kentucky Derby 5/6	Y
19	Iliad	Ghostzapper	O’Neill Doug	2nd	San Felipe G2	11-Mar	20	SA Derby G1 4/8
20	Term of Art	Tiznow	O’Neill Doug	3rd	San Felipe G2	11-Mar	11	SA Derby G1 4/8
21	Gormley	Malibu Moon	Shirreffs John	4th	San Felipe G2	11-Mar	25	SA Derby G1 4/8
22	Petrov	Flatter	Moquett Ronald E	4th	Rebel G2	18-Mar	13	Ark Derby G1 4/15
23	Guest Suite (g)	Quality Road	Howard Neil J	4th	Risen Star G2	25-Feb	15	Ark Derby G1 4/15
24	Epicharis (JPN)	Gold Allure	Hagiwara Kiyoshi	2nd	UAE Derby G1	25-Mar	40	Kentucky Derby 5/6	Y

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