The Derby contenders are starting to sort themselves out. This past Saturday, Nobiz like Shobiz won the $750,000 Wood Memorial by half a length and became the odds-on-favorite. Street Sense is currently the number 2 favorite. Cornelio Valasquez is his jockey and Barclay Tagg is his trainer. Tagg says that he's a great horse, but that sometimes he can be dumb and goofy. He has won 4 out of his 6 starts, and for the Wood Memorial wore blinkers for the first time and had his ears stuffed with cotton. Of this win, Tagg said that his main job is to keep Nobiz healthy for Derby day and that "These horses have to win these races themselves. I never get overly confident about anything. So many things can happen in a race." Now, here's the cool thing -- he is highly, closely related to my sweet Violet and Hailee. Of the many relatives they share, they include the following: Princequillo, Count Fleet, Blue Larkspur, Gay Crusader, Discovery, Teddy, Nasrullah, Hail to Reason, Sir Gallahad, Man 'o War, Hyperion, Tuder Minstrel, Sweep, Bull Dog, Bimelech, Black Helen, Case Ace, Better Self, Bull Lea, Eight Thirty, Broomstick, War Admiral, and Bubbling Over. You can read more about Nobiz at the following links (and also at the Kentucky Derby link!):
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