The Haiku Handicapper: 2018 Preakness Stakes

Joe Nevills, sales editor for the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the 2018 Preakness Stakes field in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

#1 - Quip
Bypassed the Derby
To be Justify's wingman
Tough break for you, dude

#2 - Lone Sailor
When this colt last won,
Justify still had five months
Until his debut

#3 - Sporting Chance
His nose for trouble
Is negating the upside
He displayed at two

#4 - Diamond King
The local fodder
Cross-entered the Peter Pan
And should have gone there

#5 - Good Magic
Heart-filled runner-up
We'll learn how deep his tank goes
Off two huge efforts

#6 - Tenfold
He'll win some races
But this isn't one of them
Watch him this summer

#7 - Justify
Dominant Derby
Obscured by Zapruder-like
Health controversy

#8 - Bravazo
Outran projections
This crew did it with Oxbow
Encore's tough to see

Prediction
The tables are turned
Good Magic stuns Justify
One, eight fill super

The Haiku Handicapper: 2018 Kentucky Derby

Joe Nevills, sales editor for the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the 2018 Kentucky Derby field in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

#1 - Firenze Fire
Dinked and dunked for points
One turn appears his best fit
This is not his race

#2 - Free Drop Billy
Hard to get too jazzed
When a four-length margin is
Closest loss this year

#3 - Promises Fulfilled
The front of nothing
Still got him nothing last out
A tiring rival

#4 - Flameaway
Never ducks a fight
Prefer him in the Preakness
Love for the Queen's Plate

#5 - Audible
His resume's stout
But future glories could lie
Among the milers

#6 - Good Magic
The Eclipse winner
Did his job in the Blue Grass
Might need one more gear

#7 - Justify
Much-hyped wunderkind
Shrugged off the class jump with ease
Apollo's boots shake

#8 - Lone Sailor
Ran a lifetime best
Off optional claimer loss
Hard to picture it

#9 - Hofburg
Juddmonte Farms doesn't
Mess around breeding cheap speed
If not here, Belmont

#10 - My Boy Jack
The field's deep closer
In tough when the race's best
Have high cruising speeds

#11 - Bolt d'Oro
A stark lack of love
For a two-race hundred-plus
Beyer figure streak

#12 - Enticed
Truly blue-blooded
Sleeper vibes if you forgive
Bumpy Big A trip

#13 - Bravazo
Methinks the truth leans
Toward his ugly last effort
Than Risen Star shock

#14 - Mendelssohn
Top-dollar prospect
Harangued by travel headaches
Ceiling's still sky-high

#15 - Instilled Regard
Survived the bubble
He was there for a reason
Little momentum

#16 - Magnum Moon
Tallied the most points
Showed true colors at Oaklawn
Still a shade of green

#17 - Solomini
Never off the board
But has a nose for trouble
Can't have that luck here

#18 - Vino Rosso
Topped Wood like a pro
Collmus likes saying his name
Could be Todd's third string

#19 - Noble Indy
Not much to pick at
But not enough to enthrall
Keep low on tickets

#20 - Combatant
Always in the hunt
But enters the race seeking
His first stakes triumph

#21 AE - Blended Citizen
Summer potential
But he's just not fast enough
To challenge this field

Prediction
Down goes Apollo
The fervor is Justified
Then Bolt, 14, nine

The Haiku Handicapper: 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational

Joe Nevills, sales editor for the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

#1 - Singing Bullet
Stronach Group's house horse
Hurtles into the deep end
The rail's nice, at least

#2 - West Coast
The 3-year-old champ
Stood with the best in this field
Win threat with clean start

#3 - Stellar Wind
Recent sale-topper
Lacks a flair for the big stage
Winless at distance

#4 - Sharp Azteca
A big-time miler
Will have to fight for the pace
At a new distance

#5 - Collected
Best from the west coast
Used his mulligan in a
Lackluster last out

#6 - Gunnevera
Honest, loves the track
Bound to sneak up for a piece
If the pace sets up

#7 - Fear the Cowboy
Local prep winner
Lost a listed stakes at Penn
Before that effort

#8 - War Story
If you don't succeed
Try, try again and again
He's inching closer

#9 - Toast of New York
The comeback story
Has a huge upside on dirt
If he's fresh, not stale

#10 - Gun Runner
New Horse of the Year
Stares down a tricky swan song
The long way around

#11 - Seeking the Soul
Hot at the right time
But he'll need another gear
To hang in this bunch

#12 - Giant Expectations
Topped the San Antone
With Collected tuning up
Low expectations

#13AE - Giuseppe the Great
Gained a ton of buzz
For his Jim Dandy second
Five races ago

#14AE - Game Over
The other Loooch horse
Can't get it done in Grade 3s
Wouldn't split the field

Prediction
Another torch-pass
West Coast usurps Gun Runner
Six, eight fill super

The Haiku Handicapper: 2017 Breeders' Cup Card

Joe Nevills, sales editor for the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes each race of the 2017 Breeders’ Cup World Championships in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

Friday, Nov. 3

Juvenile Fillies Turf
If the turf's not firm
No one touches Happily
Still tough if it's dry

Dirt Mile
Enters the fray fresh
With the Breeders' Cup's top jock
Mor Spirit looks strong

Juvenile Turf
A foreign horse wins
Canada's Hemp Hemp Hurray
In a small upset

Distaff
Stellar Wind looks primed
But winless at the distance
Let's go with Elate

Saturday, Nov. 4

Juvenile Fillies
Hasn't turned a hair
No reason that should change now
Moonshine Memories

Turf Sprint
If not Lady A
It's a jump ball for a price
But it's Lady A

Filly & Mare Sprint
Bella's a monster
Skye Diamonds might be faster
The monster gets caught

Filly & Mare Turf
Eli deserves it
Another Euro buzzsaw
Rhododendron blooms

Sprint
Drefong's greatest test
Comes not from competition
But the Del Mar gap

Mile
Tinkering no more
World Approval found his niche
And hits the sweet spot

Juvenile
A punctual break
Only spiked the win margin
Bolt is no shocker

Turf
Highland Reel boards planes
And runs big in global tilts
His U.S. streak grows

Classic
Asmussen's top Gun
Targets Baffert's battalion
And his aim is true

The Haiku Handicapper: 2017 Belmont Stakes

Joe Nevills, sales editor of the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the Belmont Stakes field in post position order in the form of haiku - a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

#1 - Twisted Tom
Paid for admission
No bad steps since turning three
We've seen crazier

#2 - Tapwrit
Off two troubled starts
But he fought back at Churchill
Live with a clean trip

#3 - Gormley
Not quick, but can grind
Could take home some purse money
Out of attrition

#4 - J Boys Echo
Star-making Gotham
Continues to get smaller
In rear-view mirror

#5 - Hollywood Handsome
Ran a distant fifth
In the Illinois Derby
You're still reading this?

#6 - Lookin At Lee
Proven check-getter
Likely peaked at the Derby
But rarely falls far

#7 - Irish War Cry
Using a classic
As a prep for the Haskell
How deep will he dig?

#8 - Senior Investment
Surprising Preakness
Puts his stock on the upswing
Distance causes doubts

#9 - Meantime
Local prep bridesmaid
Could get the pace to himself
Don't think he keeps it

#10 - Multiplier
Didn't show a lot
In class-climbing Preakness try
This test looks tougher

#11 - Epicharis
Japanese hopeful
Has the tools to make a dent
But his vet reports...

#12 - Patch
Outside post again
But he picks up Johnny V
Stands to take a piece

Prediction
If he's away clear,
Tapwrit will grind out a win
Seven, twelve follow

The Haiku Handicapper: 2017 Preakness Stakes

Joe Nevills, sales editor of the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the Preakness Stakes field in post position order in the form of haiku - a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

#1 - Multiplier
The next horse to turn
The Hawthorne/Preakness double
Wins at my expense

#2 - Cloud Computing
Making his fourth start
Recent efforts don't scream out
"I want this distance"

#3 - Hence
Middling Derby tilt
Still outshines most shooters here
Fourth seems about right

#4 - Always Dreaming
The Derby winner
Lived up to hype at Churchill
The win goes through him

#5 - Classic Empire
Derby rewards trips
Preakness rewards better horse
It could still be him

#6 - Gunnevera
Never been a fan
Of deep closers coming back
After bland Derby

#7 - Term of Art
His closest finish
In a meant-for-dirt stakes race
Is six lengths behind

#8 - Senior Investment
Promising future
Winning nice allowances
This seems ambitious

#9 - Lookin At Lee
Dynamite rail trip
Never seems to fool them twice
When the show moves east

#10 - Conquest Mo Money
Hard not to root for
But he seems to hit his wall
A few panels short

Prediction
Champ Classic Empire
Channels Lookin at Lucky
Four, ten fill the tri

The Haiku Handicapper: 2017 Kentucky Derby

Joe Nevills, sales editor of the Daily Racing Form and columnist for Arabian Finish Line, analyzes the Kentucky Derby field in post position order in the form of haiku - a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

#1 - Lookin at Lee
Closer from Oaklawn
Hasn't won since Ellis Park
Wait for softer fields

#2 - Thunder Snow
Global vagabond
Can run on any surface
But doomed by his post

#3 - Fast and Accurate
His best dirt Beyer
Would win a nice allowance
At a county fair

#4 - Untrapped
Minor check-getter
Vanished in last Oaklawn prep
This pool is too deep

#5 - Always Dreaming
High-upside prospect
Most dominant last effort
Feels like a bounce threat

#6 - State of Honor
Knows how to cash checks
By hanging on to placings
After ceding leads

#7 - Girvin
Leading point-getter
Grapples with ill-timed hoof woes
Don't expect Big Brown

#8 - Hence
Was his last that good
Or the rest that average?
Not buying the hype

#9 - Irap
Trainer Doug O'Neill
Didn't grow his Derby beard
All you need to know

#10 - Gunnevera
Will stage a late charge
Can scrap it out for a check
If the clouds don't part

#11 - Battle of Midway
Couldn't hang on in
Slowest Santa Anita
Derby in three score

#12 - Sonneteer
Fewer winning trips
Than stablemate Patch has eyes
That fact won't change here

#13 - J Boys Echo
Was his big Gotham
The true showcase of his class
Or an outlier?

#14 - Classic Empire
High-maintenance star's
Two toughest rivals could be
His head and the crowd

#15 - McCraken
A Blue Grass bummer
But Churchill Downs is his yard
Don't give up on him

#16 - Tapwrit
High-dollar yearling
Hype deflated at Keeneland
Excused or exposed?

#17 - Irish War Cry
Stellar Wood triumph
Makes his Fountain of Youth choke
Just so confounding

#18 - Gormley
Someone had to win
That chug-fest in his last prep
Is there one more gear?

#19 - Practical Joke
Standout 2-year-old
Couldn't pass flagging Irap
That's hard to ignore

#20 - Patch
Having just one eye
Not as big a handicap
As Apollo's curse

#21/AE - Royal Mo
Wrong side of bubble
But it's hard to get too jazzed
From pokey last start

#22/AE - Master Plan
Last horse in by points
Took an unorthodox route
To watch from the bench

Prediction
Home-track advantage
Carries McCraken home first
Then "War Cry," Tapwrit