The hype continues: Justify voted HRN's Horse of the Week

“But man, he took a deep breath and chilled out,” Smith said. “For a young horse, he has a great mind. That might allow him to catch up even sooner than a normal horse, because of his talent and the mind to go with it.”

That’s what our readers seem to anticipate for the colt, who’s 2-for-2 and passed his two-turn test. Justify topped Horse of the Week voting by earning 29% of the vote, which ran from Monday through Wednesday mornings on the Horse Racing Nation home page.

Yes, the Allowance Optional Claiming winner beat out the dueling Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes duo of Bolt d’Oro (22%) and McKinzie (19%) for the latest Horse of the Week honor.

A son of Scat Daddy trained by Bob Baffert, Justify will dive into deeper waters in his next start, which could come in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 7. Should he earn the Kentucky Derby qualifying points necessary — meaning a win or runner-up showing — it would be on to Churchill Downs to test the curse of Apollo, the last horse to win the Kentucky Derby without racing at age 2.

It hasn’t been done since 1882 but Baffert has come close before with Bodemeister, the 2012 race favorite defeated by I’ll Have Another. Bodemeister went into the Derby with four starts. At this pace, Justify will have made three before the first Saturday in May.

Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner Accelerate finished fourth in Horse of the Week voting having earned 7% of the ballot, rounding out a poll top-heavy with West Coast runners.