Quality Road is clearly the class of Saturday's Donn H.-G 1 at Gulfstream Park and as evidenced by his victories last year at Gulfstream in the Fountain of Youth-G2 and Florida Derby-G 1 he is one of those unique horses that can forwardly place themselves on a hot early pace and have enough left over to finish strong up to a mile and an eighth. This ability has the rest of this year's Donn H.-G 1 field "up against it" to say the least.
He should win Saturday but if a challenger like Past The Point (the closest thing to a speed horse in the race) were to press him early and force Quality Road out of his comfort zone then one or two of the horses he is giving up as much as 8 pounds to may be able to get past him late.
I don't think that scenario will play out though as Past the Point's connections will most likely ask pilot Edgar Prado to get their charge to relax and lay right off the leaders, much as the horse did back in 2008 when he was competing well in 2 turn Graded Stakes races, instead of rushing straight for the lead like he did in his most recent start in the 6 furlong Mr. Prospector-G3.
Unless another horse pulls a 180 with their running style Quality Road should have it "all his way" on the front end and win this year's Donn-H-G 1. I like Mambo Meister for 2nd and Past the Point for 3rd.
No Doubt. Quality Road has forward placement, has fight, and likes the surface. If untested he could moonwalk across the finish.
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