Was going to make a thread on this myself. California Chrome looks stronger than most favorites have recently, but I'm still not sold.
3 horses I have my eyes on are Danza, Hoppertunity, and Candy Boy as the long shot possibility.
Candy Boy ran a great Robert Lewis a few months ago. He absolutely shit the bed in the Santa Anita though, so nobody really knows what to expect. He was a hot pick going into that race. He has Gary Stevens riding so I think he can definitely turn it around. Finished in the money in 5 of his 7 starts. Bleacher Report is projecting him to open at 25-1, he's worth a play there.
Hoppertunity never ran as a 2 year old and a bunch of the "experts" keep talking about how no horse has won the Derby without 2 year old races since the 1880s. I'm not buying that. He's trained by Baffert which already makes him an interesting pick, and Baffert said he had him registered for a race as a 2 year old but had to scratch him. He finished second to California Chrome at Santa Anita and looked strong through the finish. He's been having real good training runs this week.
Danza rocked the Arkansas Derby, is a Pletcher horse and is also having great training runs. Don't know much about him but I'm intrigued for some reason. Only has 4 starts but won half of them. Intense Holiday is getting most of the buzz among the Pletcher horses but 2 wins in 8 starts doesnt impress me much.
Ride on Curlin also worth a look.
Hoppertunity-Candy Boy-Danza. That's how I'm going.
