This race has veteran trainers such as D. Wayne Lukas, saddling his 45th Derby horse, the 50-1 Optimizer, and the current big-dog trainers, Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen, who both have top contenders. Pletcher's Gemologist (6-1 odds) is undefeated in five career starts. The distance is not supposed to be an issue for this son of Tiznow. Asmussen's Daddy Nose Best (15-1) has gotten a lot of Derby week buzz, and is another late-runner.
Fans of oddball owners and gray speed horses hit the exacta with Hansen. The horse, champion 2-year-old after nipping Union Rags in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, is named for the owner, Kendall Hansen, a Kentucky pain-management doctor who tried to paint his horse's tail blue for the Blue Grass Stakes - damn right, he's a UK fan - and throws out Hansen dolls to fans at the track.
The real speed should come from 50-1 Trinniberg, who could present problems for Hansen and any other horse who tries to keep up. However, Trinniberg has never run longer than seven furlongs. He may be going backward for those three additional furlongs.
Don't look for Union Rags to be among the early speedsters. There are questions about his pedigree for the 11/4-mile distance, although second dam Terpsichorist was a distance horse. His sire, former Haskell winner Dixie Union, excelled a little short of the mile and quarter.
The colt's dam, Tempo, brings sentimental pedigree as well, since Union Rags is not just owned by Wyeth, but bred by her, a family affair since Tempo was sired by Gone West, owned by Wyeth's parents.
so, Take hanson at 10:1 and Bodemeister at 4:1 to place .. and then Union Rages to show.. So, an exacta and trifecta as outlined with a solo bet on Hanson to win.
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