Verrazano wins by ten … Hyperbole explosion follows

Oh how we love to see a horse win by the length of the stretch. It makes us all warm and tingly inside.

Verrazano won by a country mile today in a big race. He was quickly crowned three-year-old champ. Not so fast my friends.

Remember the Derby winner, Orb? Remember the Belmont winner, Palace Malice? I know … he hasn’t raced since yesterday. Both of those colts are proven at classic distances. Verrazano, not so much.

Huge daylight wins are not always what they seem. It often means one horse felt his oats, while no one else in the race picked up all four legs. 

In the Haskell, this was true. Oxbow was not right. I’m just hoping the brave little colt leaves New Jersey with his health. Power Broker and Micromanage are just not grade one horses. Verrazano’s margin of victory had a lot to do with what was happening behind him.

Think about other horses over the years that you saw win by dizzying margins the race before a championship type of race. How many of them came back to win that big race? How many came back to get beat as the favorite?

By all means, give the Travers trophy to Verrazano right now. Bet him like he’s going out of style. Give him the Eclipse Award right now, while you’re at it … I will wait.

I will wait for the Travers where Palace Malice (the horse I believe to be the best three-year-old colt in Todd Pletcher’s barn), and Orb are my top two picks.

Credit to Verrazano. Today’s win was excellent, but assuming he will beat a pair of classic colts in Palace Malice and Orb in the ten furlong Travers, just because of what you saw today, will likely turn out to be a mistake.