Free Springboard Mile PPs available now
The Road to the Kentucky Derby takes a stop at Remington Park on Friday night for an intriguing renewal of the $200,000 Springboard Mile.
Outadore and Cowan are the class of the field, but they have done their best work on the turf. If they fail to transfer their strong turf form to the dirt, than this 11-horse field is wide open. The top four finishers will earn 10-4-2-1 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby.
We turn to our friends at Brisnet to help solve the Springboard Mile puzzle with free past performances.
The first metric we will take into account is Brisnet Speed Figures.
It should come as no surprise that Cowan leads the way in this department off of his strong second-place finish behind the heavily favored Golden Pal in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Outadore is a close second in this category after running third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
According the the numbers, Cowan is a bit faster than Outadore. And he has one other key advantage that his main rival does not — a win over the dirt.
Cowan broke maiden on the dirt in nice fashion before running a disappointing fifth in stakes company at Ellis Park. He has certainly improved on turf, but there are multiple factors that could have led to his rising numbers.
Cowan added blinkers when trying turf for the first time. With the blinkers on, his style changed from a front-runner to a closer. Stretching out to a mile, he is likely to press the pace once more, but the versatility he has shown is important.
Another reason he might have been sent to the lead in his two dirt efforts was the fact that he drew the rail both times, forcing his hand. He will be able to work out a cozy journey from post 8.
The son of Kantharos is a better horse than he was the last time he tried dirt and is strictly the horse to beat.
As mentioned, Cowan is expected to press an early pace that could include Outadore, Joe Frazier, Saffa's Day and potentially a few others on the stretch out. There certainly is a possibility that the pace could be fast — and if that is the case, it is important to find the best closer in the race. For this information, we take a closer look at Brisnet's Late Pace Ratings.
Cowan rates highly in this category as well, but it is the intriguing local maiden winner Señor Buscador who gets top billing. He charged home from the rear of the field to win going 5 1/2 furlongs on debut. The visually impressive win came back strong on numbers as this colt showed he can pass horses, which is vital in 2-year-old races.
The son of Mineshaft should only improve with distance and has an element of upside that many of his rivals lack. If Cowan gets tired in the final furlong, it likely will be Señor Buscador who runs him down at a very nice price.
Determine who you like by taking a closer look at the Springboard Mile PPs below, with the option to go full screen in the lower right corner of the window. Visit our free past performances page to view more free stakes PPs.