It finally feels like the Triple Crown season has begun. Sure, there have been points races since September…but, today was the draft for the third annual Derbyologist Triple Crown Fantasy League.
This year’s draft was a challenging one. The closest thing to a standout in either three-year-old division, at least in the sense of one I would want to take to the Derby or the Oaks, is Songbird. Of course, since I did not have first pick outright, I figured I would not get Songbird.
(I was right. She went first.)
In addition to the plethora of cromulent draft picks, the altered claiming schedule also threw a wrench into things. Previously, there had been defined dates when we could add and drop horses, spaced a few weeks apart through the season. This year, however, we can make claims every Monday through the season, starting February 1. This made it a little less attractive to take speculative picks who are running later in the season yet — and a little more attractive to speculate on earlier races such as the Holy Bull, the Forward Gal, the Withers.
My strategy has so often been contingent on squirreling money away until much too late — like many of my favourite horses, though, that often leaves me the closer who has left themself way too much to do until too late. Particularly with these weekly claims, I need to consider being open to a bit more early stable shuffle.
With those thoughts out of the way, here is my initial stable, in order of when I drafted them:
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