I am admittedly pretty quick to abandon ship when a horse does not wow me on the Kentucky Derby trail, but considering The Puma is going to be the fourth choice in Saturday’s Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, I am willing to give my Sam F. Davis selection another chance.
And it is not as though his third-place finish behind Renegade was awful. He was six lengths back of that foe after pokier start than we saw on debut while getting a nice Brisnet late-pace rating into a slow pace. Yeah, finishing behind Wayne’s Law is not great, but the 8-1 morning line is too enticing for a horse who deserves another shot at this distance.
Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) winner Further Ado is the 9-5 morning-line favorite. This will be his 3-year-old debut, but I am getting mixed signals at a short price. Yes, winning any race by 20 lengths, as he did when breaking his maiden in his third career start and his two-turn debut, is impressive. But, it is fair to question the horses behind him that day and in the Kentucky Jockey Club. The two sprints to start his career were just OK, and there is some real brilliance in this field.
Like The Puma, Powershift is a maiden in with a big shot here. His career debut against Emerging Market on the Davis undercard was scintillating. Trainer Todd Pletcher said the plan was to try the Tampa Bay Derby after a victory. That didn’t happen, but it was a winning effort most days, so he’s here. Price seems a little short at 7-2, but going against Further Ado lets us use Powershift with The Puma.
Chad Brown trains both Emerging Market and Canaletto. The former is going to the Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 21 at Fair Grounds, with Canaletto showing up here. He is even shorter than Powershift on the morning line, so I’m not excited about his 5-2 either, but the chance to beat Further Ado allows his use as well, especially in multi-race wagers against chalk.