Betting The Horses

Awesome Act burst into the Kentucky Derby picture with a 11/4-length win at the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes on March 6.  It was his first time racing on dirt after spending the first five races of his career in England, the native country of his trainer Jeremy Noseda.

Noseda picked Awesome Act, son of American dirt specialist Awesome Again, at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale.  After watching him fail to come up with strong finishes on the turf and synthetic tracks of Europe, Noseda felt the colt needed a change of scenery.

His first American race was at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, where he finished fourth.  It was then that Noseda decided the horse would be most competitive running on dirt.  He convinced owners Vinery Stables and Susan Roy to let him train the horse for the dirt races American Triple Crown.  Awesome Act’s strong performance at the Gotham Stakes vindicated the decision.

On April 4, Awesome Act raced at the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.  He finished a distant third to Eskendereya.  Awesome Act’s performance was hindered by losing a shoe at the start of the race.  Eskendereya, who is now the Kentucky Derby betting favorite, beat second-place finisher Jackson Bend by 9 ¾ lengths. Jackson Bend finished the race second place by a head over Awesome Act.

Despite the distant third place finish, Noseda still has his sights set on Churchill Downs.  While he does not discredit the strong performance of Eskendereya at the Wood Memorial, he has mentioned that the pace of the race was wrong for his horse and that losing his shoe coming out of the gate was not “ideal.”