Derby Spotlight: Vekoma

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I think it’s fair, even if you weren’t terribly turned off by Vekoma’s 3rd place effort in the Fountain of Youth, to draw a line through it. It was his first start in four months and he had every right to need a race. And if you just ignore that effort, or even if you don’t, you’ve got a Derby contender with two graded stakes wins who really demolished them all in the Blue Grass.

Vekoma definitely has an odd way of moving. He does this thing with his left front leg that I heard someone refer to as “crossfiring”. I am not going to use a term that I don’t fully understand, but I do understand how to watch replays, and he did it in the Blue Grass and Nashua wins. And whatever it’s called doesn’t seem to slow him down.

Furthermore, he has a style that I like for the Kentucky Derby. In his three wins, he was just in behind the leader(s). In the FOY loss, he came from father back. So it’s reasonable to assume the strategy for the Derby will be to stay close early. But not necessarily on the lead.

Now let’s talk about the Blue Grass and the field he beat. Personally, I am not a huge fan of Signalman or Win Win Win. I just don’t particularly see either of them as top horses and I’m wondering just how tough that race was. Regardless, he won the right way and really has done nothing wrong. If you’re serious about betting the Kentucky Derby, you need to decide what you are doing with Vekoma. It would make me happy beyond words if he didn’t make the race for some reason. Because at the moment, I feel like he’s going to appear only defensively in my wagers, and he’s definitely one who can screw me.