Top pick: #4 (EL CHURRUCA) - Sharp Philadelphia Park shipper has an outstanding overall turf record (18-6-10-1) and comes up from there working well for his first start since Sept 11. Has both speed/stalking ability, and he's won off of layoffs of this type in the past. Good barn (Ramon Preciado) did well coming north with several runners during the winter and this 6-year-old is the horse to beat.
2nd pick: #6 (Hockley) - Talented but fragile son of "A.P. Indy" hasn't raced since last July at Del Mar, but trained sharply this past winter in Florida without making it to the starting gate. Stalker runs off a trainer switch to Kiaran McLaughlin and is a win candidate if he's ready with his best off the 9 month layoff.
3rd pick: #7 (Saint Eligius) - Very lightly-raced colt by "Saint Liam" hasn't raced in almost a year, but is in a very good long layoff barn (Tony Dutrow - 33%) and he's been in steady training for the past two months. Gives away a lot of experience to the top pick and he would need a career best to defeat that runner.