Best Brisnet Speed Figure: 101 (Los Alamitos Futurity).
COMMENTS: Racing fans will instantly recognize the silks jockey Flavien Prat will wear aboard Solomini as the same ones Victor Espinoza wore as American Pharoah carried them to a Triple Crown victory in 2015. While the silks their jockey’s wore will be the same, the horses bearing the Zayat Stables’ colors could not be more different. American Pharoah was easy going with a docile temperament that masked his fierce presence on the racetrack; Solomini is always aggressive from his stall to the track – and back – and often times can be difficult to handle, as his prep races have shown.
Solomini has had a fairly decent 2018 season and qualified to make the Derby starting gate without technically winning a race, though he crossed under the wire first in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) last December; he was disqualified after interfering with his foes in the stretch.
His second and third place finishes at Oaklawn Park were respectable, but also problematic in that he refused to change leads in the stretch runs. Despite that, however, he still made up ground.
Since then, his connections have been working hard in the mornings to remind him what he’s supposed to do, and trainer Bob Baffert’s go-to jockey, Martin Garcia, worked a nice lead change into him in his final move on Sunday.
Solomini is consistent and reliable for a top try, but will it be enough for a Kentucky Derby (G1) score?
