Lexington Stakes

This Saturday's Coolmore Lexington Stakes is the last chance for any horse trying to make it to this year Kentucky Derby. With only 2 weeks remaining to the May 2 Derby, I am not looking for any major Derby contenders coming from this race. The last horse that I can remember did anything from the Lexington was Proud Citizen's 2nd place finish in the 2002 Derby as a long shot.

PP Horse Jockey ML

1 Jeranimo Blanc 12-1
2 Omniscient Albarado 6-1
3 Pitched Perfectly Garcia 15-1
4 Brave Victory Velazquez 8-1
5 His Greatness Douglas 20-1
6 Masala Coa 6-1
7 Conservative Desormeaux 15-1
8 Square Eddie Prado 9-5
9 El Crespo Castellano 10-1
10 Parade Clown Leparoux 15-1
11 Advice Gomez 10-1
12 Hull Mena 12-1

This year's Lexington is an excellent betting race, the morning line favorite Square Eddie is being rush back from injury to make it to the Derby. In a large field of 12, it is wild open and I am thinking upset.

My top pick is #2 Omniscient at 6-1. Omniscient is 2-1-0 in 3 lifetime start, it improved its Beyers in every outing. His stalking running style and the inside post is prefect for Keeneland. This will be a big step up in class from N1X and his first try on polytrack. If I can get 5-1 on Omniscient, I will use it on top of my trifecta tickets. If not, I will just box it with others.

The 2 son's of Lion Heart are my next 2 choice, Masala (6-1) and Brave Victory (8-1). Masala ran a 89+ Beyers in it last 3 races(89,95 and 92) and that made him very competitive in this race. Masala ran into traffic in the Gotham, it made a move in the final turn but tired out in the stretch. Jockey Coa won the Blue Glass Stakes last Sat and he could double up with Masala on this Sat. Brave Victory ran an excellent 4th in the Swale last out. The Gulfstream track was favoring front running that day which didn't leave Brave Victory with much of a chance. If there is a hot pace setup by Pitched Perfectly and Hull, it will set him up nicely for a late run. Brave Victory represents the last chance for Nick Ztio to make it to this year's Derby and he may just pull off the upset.

My long shot of the race is #10 Parade Clown (15-1). On paper the horse is slightly over matched but i like it consistence (1-2-0 in 4 start this year). Parade Clown had ran 6 times on polytrack and is doing well at Keeneland based on the morning workout. I also like the jockey switch to the red hot Leparoux who is winning at 29% at this meet. Another horse that I will use on my trifecta is #1 Jeranimo (12-1). California shippers are winning all over the country last weekend. Jeranimo only lost to Pioneerof the Nile by 2 1/4 length in the San Felipe. If he ran back to his last race, he will be very dangerous.