Dunkirk

[UmmYeah]

Tomorrow at Gulfstream, he makes his first start since that impressive debut victory. It speaks volumes that Gomez is flying cross country just to ride him. Is his too late for him to make some noise on the Derby trail?

[MDO]

It says more to me that Prado is staying on Alma d'Oro after winning on Dunkirk. He won by 5 and it was over 16 lengths back to third.

[UmmYeah]

It says more to me that Prado is staying on Alma d'Oro after winning on Dunkirk. He won by 5 and it was over 16 lengths back to third.

Perhaps, but the 2nd place horse in that race was the beaten fave next out in the race that was also Nicanor's debut.

[UmmYeah]

Wow. That was pretty impressive.

[Hotwalker]

want to catch the video replay. Unbridled's Song is some hot sire right now.

You asked if it's too late for this colt? Not sure. Big Brown only had 1 start at 2. Curlin started at the same time as Dunkirk, but he came up short in the Derby. Maybe Dunkirk is a Preakness horse and not a Derby horse. They're all individuals though.

[UmmYeah]

Yeah, it was a bit of a rhetorical question. Ten years ago, I would have thought that there was no way that a horse that debuted in late January would make an impact in the Derby. Both Curlin and Big Brown have shown that it is possible for a lightly raced and/or late-developing colt to make an impact. Will Dunkirk be as good as either of those two? It's a tall order, but so far he has looked very impressive and has done nothing wrong.

[Dave C]

Curlin started at the same time as Dunkirk, but he came up short in the Derby.

I'm not sure I agree with this assessment. IMO it was Curlins' lack of tactical speed that cost him the KD, not a lack of conditioning. There was one hole for Curlin and Street Sense to go through, SS got there first and Curlin had to check. The ground Curlin lost from checking is the margin by which he SS finished ahead of him. If Curlin had got to the hole first I believe he would have won that day. That's horseracing. Just saying Dunkirk has sufficient time, none to waste, but sufficient.

[AscotStud]

Dunkirk will go as far as his dam carries him. I also think the Wilkes horse in that race will end up being his "classic" horse and Candyman will be a better 1 turn horse.

[Jorge]

The dominant Dunkirk is a very interesting horse to ponder about. If we analalyze his speed figures and fractionals we cannot compare him to horses like, say, Holy Bull and Lure. But if we analyze the dominance he has shown over his peers we may be tempted to compare him to Arazi. But then we all know what happened to Arazi's auspicious stardom status.

On the other hand there are horses with a rare kind of dominance that makes them shine with great consistency, albeit always with a low profile. I am referring to horses like Pistols and Roses or the lesser known, Vuelve Candy B (a very consistent horse who always beat the best track record setting horses in his country but never clicked superb times when he beat them). Some horses are like that.

Perhaps the lower half of Dunkirk's pedigree his pedigree along with physical development during the next two months may hint us on whether he is another Big Brown, Arazi or Vuelve Candy B.

What do you think?

[UmmYeah]

Holy Bull? Lure? Arazi? Big Brown? Those are some pretty lofty names to invoke for a horse that has made just two starts and is yet to run in a stakes. That people are mentioning him in the same breath as any of those horses is an indication of how special people feel that Dunkirk could be. We'll see, but I agree that, in this crop of three-year-olds, he is the first one that has made me start thinking in those terms.