Steve Haskin's Road to the Kentucky Derby (Cont.)

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On Thursday at Santa Anita, Atswhatimtalknbout, rebounded off a third-place finish in his two-turn debut to win a 1 1/16-mile allowance race by three-quarters of a length over the Bob Baffert-trained During. This race was more of a mixed bag. The son of A.P. Indy no doubt has a good deal of ability, but he was all out to beat a horse coming off a maiden sprint. Although he behaved better this time than in his last race when he didn't care to partake in the saddling process, he was trying to buck in the paddock and was pretty wound up in the post parade, working up a mouthful of saliva, which he managed to get rid of by flinging his head back continuously. But he did settle down after that and ran a very professional race. He put in an impressive move from last on the far turn in the five-horse field and changed leads smoothly.

He runs with his body at a slight angle, pointed in toward the rail. It must be remembered, this was only his third start and he does have tremendous scope for improvement. He's a big, handsome, powerful colt, and was determined to get the job done, pinning his ears the length of the stretch. The fractions were solid and his final time of 1:41 4/5 was excellent. All the colt needs is a better name. Although there is a story behind it, it's going to create havoc with newspaper editors and headline writers, not to mention people trying to say it without sounding like some backward street thug. But if he becomes a star, it'll probably start to sound cute...hopefully.

Returning to Gulfstream, Michael Tabor and Todd Pletcher sent out another promising colt in Aristocat who won his two-turn debut in impressive fashion. While it wasn't flashy, the son of Tale of the Cat was put to a test by a more experienced and seasoned horse. He withstood a prolonged battle on the far turn, and finally put his opponent away before drawing clear to win by 2 1/4 lengths. He's probably not ready to beat top-class stakes horses, but even a good showing in the Florida Derby would be a major step forward.

Tabor was on a roll Saturday, as his Deputy Commander colt Brancusi easily broke his maiden at Santa Anita by 5 lengths with first-time Lasix. Trained by Patrick Biancone, this colt's only bad race came in the Champagne, a race in which he didn't belong, coming off only a second in maiden company. He has a dynamite distance pedigree, and it might be wise to keep an eye on this colt, who really looked impressive through the stretch.

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