Erie Feeling: Doug Salvatore Continues Deep Dive Into 2016 Kentucky Derby

Doug Salvatore is back with part 2 of his Kentucky Derby profiles looking at each perspective starter along with their recent form through the eyes of Brisnet.com and other performance figures.

CLICK HERE to read Part 1, which featured the winners of the 180-point races.

Mor Spirit

BRIS (94, 102, 99) TimeformUS (113, 111, 108) Beyer (94, 97, 93) Thoro-Graph (4.5, 1.25, 3)

Originally purchased for $85,000 as a yearling in October of 2014, Mor Spirit thrived when put to training and brought a bid of $650,000 at the Fasig Tipton Florida March 2-year-old sale, six months later. Never worse than second in seven career starts, Mor Spirit has been a beaten favorite in his two recent starts. In the Santa Anita Derby, he was placed in Mid-Pack off of a sizzling early pace set by Danzing Candy, and had no response at all for the proven wet-track lover Exaggerator, who took advantage of the pace setup and catapulted past everyone to win going away. Two starts back, Mor Spirit ran a good second in the San Felipe, this time unable to catch the uncontested early leader Danzing Candy. Mor Spirit did outfinish Exaggerator in that race, though Exaggerator made a ridiculously pre-mature move and ran into some traffic trouble.

This is an honest horse for a great trainer in Bob Baffert. He's a tactically versatile type who appears better suited for a fast track. In a spot like this, he's the kind of horse you want to use if the betting public ignores him. Let the odds dictate your view of Mor Spirit.

Mohaymen

BRIS (87, 102, 97) TimeformUS (106, 113, 109) Beyer (80, 95, 95) Thoro-Graph (5, 1, 2.5)

This $2.2 million yearling purchase was undefeated going into the Florida Derby and bet to 4/5 favoritism over last seasons 2-year-old champion Nyquist. I'm of the opinion that Mohaymen ran a much better than looked race in the Florida Derby. Catching a wet-track for the first time, Moyhaymen was hung out 4-wide the entire way through the first turn and 5-wide the entire way through the far turn. The more naturally talented horse Nyquist enjoyed an easy front-end trip and Mohaymen had the daunting task of moving pre-maturely to try and pressure the juvenile champion. The tactics understandably failed and Mohaymen sputtered home through the stretch and finished a dismal fourth.

I was very impressed with Mohaymen's Remsen win as a two-year-old. His series of prep races at Gulfstream didn't impress me a whole lot, but he managed to win two out of three and he had already accumulated the necessary points to get into the Kentucky Derby before the Florida Derby. We've seen trainer Kiaran McLaughlin get a horse to peak in the Kentucky Derby before. That was Closing Argument, who was beaten nine lengths while sputtering home after a wide trip in the 2005 Blue Grass Stakes. He returned to run 2nd beaten just a half length at 71/1 odds in the Derby.