posted May 9, 2008 at 20:11 in Triple Crown Articles

The best horse bettors around are always looking for that golden parachute around the corner and the best way to fly on that parachute is to watch and evaluate replays and find runners that are on the verge of peaking.

For that purpose let’s take a look at three horses that seems to be sitting on huge races. First stop is the Big Apple and a gelding knows as Jason’s Prospect.

He broke slowly in a live debut when taking very little money on the board but he started to show his true talent in his second start, his first for a claiming tag.

Between his races, he had trained steadily, though not fast, and that is key. It’s not always how fast a horse works but if the works are well spaced with thought to getting a horse to his primetime condition.

The bad news for Prospect about his second start is that he drew the rail, and often times, that kind of a post can force the hand of a rider and compromises a runner’s chances.

That is exactly what happened. The runner broke dead last, rushed up pressing a sub :46 fraction, then went from second to fourth in the final furlong.

The projection for this guy is to do much better with a more favorable post and he has a right to carry his speed as a half sister won 5 times, 4 times going long, and banked nearly $150,000.

A mile distance, with a post from 6 to 8, could be the winning ticket.

Horse bettors that scour the charts across this great nation may have zeroed in on a promising sophomore named Strait of Mewsina, who graduated in Ireland, ran well in big fields across the pond, took his stateside debut, then was caught 6 wide in his stakes debut in this country.

By Group 1 winner and promising sire Spartacus, this colt was dead short for his Keeneland return and never looked comfortable after breaking from inside slot.

The horse Mewsina beat last October won several times since including the $100,000 Battaglia and the horse that beat Mewsina in his 2007 finale went on to win the Trop Derby, run second at Gulfstream in a $77,000 stakes, then run second a neck in the Grade 1 Blue Grass.

Future is so bright for Mewsina, his connections have to wear shades.

The final runner that astute horse bettors should be aware of is Backtracken, who came back from a 2-month layoff to make his third start at Tampa in mid Apirl.

He had run 3 good races in his first 4 starts and in the off effort, the first 2 finishers came back to win.

The gelded son of Smoke Glacken had every right to leave his race behind the starting gate in his return when he acted up badly before the start and FINALLY had to be loaded from the front of the gate.

When this happens, more often than not, a runner will vie for a short period then cave in.

But Backtracken put in a sustained bid for well over 4 furlongs, came flying on the outside, only to lose by the slimmest of margins.

In the hands of 22% trainer Dennis Manning, clever horse bettors should circle this guy and double down if he is extended to 9 furlongs.

Keep checking the Locker Room all through the Triple Crown season, as we will cover the trainers, horses and jockeys in each race. You can get your early Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs bets in now in the BetUS sportsbook in the Future / props section, under Horse Futures: 2008 Kentucky Derby.