Old Fashioned Wins Smartly

Old Fashioned is wearing me down.  When Derby prep season started I admired Old Fashioned but rooted on Chocolate Candy, Hello Broadway and Capt. Candyman Can, among others.  I still do like those three very much.  But at the moment, Old Fashioned seems to actually want the Derby more than anyone else, and since none of his connections are among the crowd I customarily root against (I'm a race fan with personal likes and dislikes, way more than a lover of "the action"), I may as well cry uncle.  He seems to want it so much and have so much talent that I want it for him. His focused intent in every race reminds me of Invasor. I always felt it would kill Invasor to lose, which happened to him only once. I feel the same way about Old Fashioned.

Old Fashioned is the one who seems to know what's at stake on this Derby Trail. There is no anxiety or immaturity on the track in Old Fashioned, only seriousness, and a lot of talent. This is a very winning animal, in more ways than one.

There's not much to distinguish between Old Fashioned's Southwest performance and Smarty Jones' in 2004. Smarty's Southwest Stakes was his slowest effort, and Old Fashioned's time, which was on par with Smarty's, has been read as a plus or minus depending upon whether you think the horse was extended to beat Silver City. IMO the race was a laugher. I liked that he could rate. He wasn't really set down in the stretch and his head was cocked a bit to the right coming around the turn. He appeared well under himself and not pressed.

To me it appeared to be a comfortable win where he did no more than he needed to do, showed diversity by dropping off the lead, came again when asked, and won more than comfortably within himself. He ran, IMO, like a horse that had more to offer but wasn't called upon to give it.

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To add to Candy Ride's exciting first year as a sire (he has potential Derby contenders Chocolate Candy and Capt. Candyman Can) get a load of his daughter, Evita Argentina, who dusted nine colts coming from last in the San Vincente on February 16th. If Evita Argentina's connections get Derby fever, Candy Ride could have three offspring loading in the gate on the first Saturday in May.