Denk on Horses Derby contender profiles
Profile: Watch Me Go
Watch Me Go training at Churchill Downs. (Eclipse Sportswire)
Watch Me Go has been tabbed at 50-to-1, the longest shot on the morning line for the Kentucky Derby. Those odds are based on Watch Me Go’s poor performance in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby and the nosediving stock of his Tampa Bay Downs form.
Watch Me Go got into the Kentucky Derby thanks to his victory in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. Finishing third in the Tampa Bay Derby was Brethren, the half brother to last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. Brethren was considered a major contender for the Triple Crown at the time, but he did not live up to the hype. It does not appear there was much quality in the Tampa preps, which also look slow on speed figures.
Watch Me Go earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84 in the Tampa Bay Derby. That gives him the 19th fastest top figure in the Kentucky Derby field. Watch Me Go ran his final five-sixteenths of a mile in the Tampa Derby in 31.40 seconds, a decent closing time.
Watch Me Go finished sixth, beaten 17 lengths, in his final prep the Illinois Derby. That race did not feature a strong field this year. The second-place finisher was a maiden.
To be competitive in the Kentucky Derby, Watch Me Go will need to run significantly faster than ever before.
An award winning newspaper journalist from Chicago’s south side, Pete Denk moved to Lexington, Kentucky, in 2005. He wrote for Thoroughbred Times for five years, as a staff reporter and later as sales editor. Denk headed up the Times’ auction coverage for three years. Still based in horse country, he now works as a freelance journalist and consultant. More by 