Kantharos Keeping with yesterday's theme of "best in the country", let's talk about a very unique 2yo colt who i feel is the best in the country (or at least the best that i've seen so far). His name is Kantharos, and here he is in action:
Not hard to spot, he's in the yellow silks.
Maiden win
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sme61Vhsvc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sme61Vhsvc[/URL]
Bashford Manor win
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J36LPujKn90"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J36LPujKn90[/URL]
I mentioned above that i consider this colt unique. The reason for that, other than his obvious talent, is that trainer Steve Asmussen is no longer working Kantharos in the comnpany of other 2yo's. Instead, he is working him with older stakes horses! Let's look at Kantharos' last 4 workouts...
On both July 12 and July 19, Kantharos worked heads-up with Omniscient, a nice older horse for Asmussen who at the time was coming off back-to-back allowance wins @ Churchill. More recently, Omniscient came out of those drills with Kantharos to win a stakes race @ Monmouth on August 1.
On July 26, Kantharos worked heads-up with Captain Cherokee. That one is a fine older spriter, who was last seen winning an allowance race @ Churchill. He's also stakes-placed, running third behind Quality Road in last year's Grade 2 Amsterdam @ Saratoga.
On August 2, Kantharos worked heads-up with Friesan Fire, who won the Louisiana Derby last year, and i believe went favored in the Kentucky Derby.
The last 2yo colt that i can remember working regularly with older stakes horses was Empire Maker, who had been working in company with the older stakes winners Medaglia d'Oro and Milwaukee Brew. Empire Maker, as you may remember, ended up going favored in the Kentucky Derby the following year.
