Pyro Mania

With a last to first move in the Risen Star, Pyro went to the top of the charts on many Kentucky Derby lists, let's take a closer look at the colt who turned heads and broke stop watches the final quarter mile.

Pyro is by Pulpit a son of A. P. Indy who retired after a 4th place finish in the Kentucky Derby in which he was favored.  Pulpit was a "lightning" in a bottle type horse himself.  

Pulpit broke his maiden January 11th at Gulfstream Park in 1997 with a wire to wire 7 length romp.  An allowance win and Fountain of Youth victory followed and by February 22nd he was a Grade II stakes winner.  Heavily favored in the Florda Derby, he was passed by Captain Bodgit in the stretch and finished 2nd.  Pulpit rebounded to win the Blue Grass in a very weak 7 horse field, capitalizing on the Keeneland front-running highway and very slow fractions to record the win.

Race Record:

The Derby favorite with 4 wins and 5 starts, Pulpit ran evenly and was not able to quicken with Silver Charm and Free House.  Captain Bodgit again closed down the stretch, leaving Pulpit in 4th.  Retired after the race Pulpit never raced again.

Classic Sire

As a sire Pulpit has sired 2 Kentucky Derby Starters.  Essence of Dubai and Tapit.  Essence of Dubai was a Norfolk winner who ran in the Derby after wintering in Dubai.  Tapit was highly regarded in 2004 and but finished with a disappointing run in the slop in a race dominated by Smarty Jones.  Both horses retired with under 10 career starts.

Since 2004 Pulpit has had 24 horses nominated for the Triple Crown.  Top Classic prospects have included Sightseing, and Corinthian.

Overall Pulpit has had some very unsound runners and keeping Pyro healthy through the Triple Crown may be the biggest obstacle facing Steve Asmussen.

Pulpit has had 2 other runners in Triple Crown races.  Purge who ran last in the Belmont Stakes and Chekhov.

The female line of Pulpit shows Breeders Cup Classic Winner, Wild Again who has been the sire of some hard knockin horses.

Pyro is the 2nd foal of Wild Vision.  Wild Vision made one start and one win, but never raced again. (hmm more injuries)  the first foal was an un-raced filly by Quiet American.  A full brother to Wild Vision was very sound with 9 wins in 20 starts and winning the Longacres Mile and racing through the age of 6.  The rest of the family was lightly raced.

The 2 most sound Pulpits have been fillies and both have been Turfers.  Wend and Rutherienne have been very solid turf runners in 2007 and 2006.  Sky Mesa was another runner who developed early winning the Breeder's Futurity but was injured the following spring.

Pyro himself is a very small runner, compact and well proportioned.  My experience has been that small runners tend to come "off the shelf" better and can run big races off the layoffs and as first time starters.  "Big" horses need to get their legs stretched out in stride and require 2 to 3 races to fire their best effort.  It is possible that Pyro may have fired a big effort in the Risen Star and may not have much "upside" in the next 60 days.  Keep in mind he may not need more upside.

So far we are still waiting for some horses to break through to the War Pass and Pyro level, some horses have hinted at the ability.  Other horses have yet to get running this spring.  In the next 40 days these other horses will have to step up quickly to get to the level of the top 2.

Pyro will probably next run in the Louisiana Derby, it may be a small field and this could work against Pyro, also a last to first move is not always the recommended strategy.  Watching the Risen Star, Pyro was almost blocked twice and actually had to move outside horses before unleashing his quick final quarter.

My 2 biggest concerns for Pyro over the next 70 days are one remaining injury-free which many Pulpits have come to incur.  The second is that being a small, muscular horse he may not have as much scope to improve.  What you see is what you get... Will it be good enough come May 3rd?