TDN Rising Stars presented by Hagyard

Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm's Always a Runner (Gun Runner) collared the pacesetting Pashmina (Constitution) late to win Saturday's GIII Gazelle at Aqueduct. In victory, the Chad Brown-trainee secured the maximum allotment of 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Oaks points on offer to the top-five finishers. "She looks good this morning," said Brown on Easter Sunday. "I'll speak to the owners later [Sunday]. I'm inclined to go on to the Oaks with her. She only ran twice, but she looks super this morning. You deal with 14 horses instead of 20, I...

Now that the obvious TDN Rising Stars, Presented by Hagyard have been dealt with, it is time to turn to the "darker" ones among last year's crop. Not that there is such thing as a truly dark horse anymore thanks to detailed data and the vastly greater scope of media coverage of the better maidens and novices. We're not there yet, for some reason, but there will be a time when we will know almost instantly whether we've seen a genuine good horse or not through meaningful stride and time...