in Triple Crown Betting Trends

Hawthorne helps sort it out

The Bluegrass will be run this coming Saturday at Keeneland, but it is not likely the Derby winner will come out of that race.

This past Saturday, I saw some pretty good horses making some pretty good moves and I think we will have a great Derby for the bettors, as always.

So get your BetUS.com accounts ready to fire.

If you email me at the address below on the Thursday before the Kentucky Derby, I will send you my pick for the race FREE.

In the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Saturday, a horse I was high on in February, Sweetnorthernsaint, absolutely destroyed thefield of nine and won by a whopping 8 lengths. He was coasting at the wire.

If you remember, I said of him two months ago he had to prove himself against graded stakes horses. Well, he has now done that and looms big in the Run for the Roses.

In New York's Big A, The Wood Memorial, which has produced many Derby winners over the years, Bob and John trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by the hottest jock since last August Garrett Gomez, outdueled the favorite, Keyed Entry, in a stretch drive to win.

On a wet track, it was a two-horse race and Gomez got his horse up in the last 100 yards to grab most of the $750,000 purse. I was particularly impressed by a horse named Jazil in the Wood. Jazil was a late entry into this race, got off slowly, had a bit of a traffic problem at the 1/8th pole, but he came flying down the stretch to finish second.

His strides at the end were full of life and it looked to me like he could easily go the 1 1/4 miles on Derby day. So keep an eye out for him, as his rider Fernando Jara is hungry and wants to break into the big time. This colt could be his ticket in.

The Classic Santa Anita Derby on the left coast was won by the overwhelming favorite, Brother Derek. With only four horses on the track, Brother Derek took an easy lead and held off the also-rans. Brother Derek was eased up at the finish, which tells me he will be ready and still fresh on Derby day. I have some doubts about Brother Derek, especially since I don't play favorites. There is no doubt he is a great horse, but he has run all his races in California in good weather and against small fields. On Derby day, he will be on a strange track with 19 others trying to bust him up. They will not let him get an easy lead, he will have to battle from the start. Can he handle that? I don't know, but my money will be on a higher-priced horse.

So, all of the above mentioned horses join the undefeated Barbero, Bluegrass Cat, undefeated Lawyer Ron, and Dubai winner Discreet Cat on what could be a fantastic day at Churchill Downs.

Pete Cataldo can be heard every Wednesday at 3pm EST on www.BetUSradio.com. To reach Pete for more on the ponies, email jrclemente@hotmail.com.