Florida Derby Results

Well, Scat Daddy ran another huge race as he showed his gritty tenacity by pulling away in midstretch after racing very close to the early pace. Notional ran a big race coming off a layoff and might have shown that he belongs with the big boys. But perhaps the most interesting effort/ride came from 3rd place finisher Chelokee. He was clearly a big threat in this race but as his rider (Dominguez) chose to go inside the tiring early speeds he got shut-off and had to steady then tried to go around and simply couldn't get enough momentum going to catch the leaders in deep stretch.
Dominguez seemed to have a lot of horse left so the question arises - if Dominguez chose to go around the tiring speeds instead of to the inside could or would Chelokee have won?
Well I won't say that Chelokee would have beaten both Scatt Daddy and Notional to the wire because that unfairly diminishes both -Scatts and Notional's efforts. However it is pretty clear that Chelokee would have been right there with them at the finish!
So it's now evident that Chelokee and Notional belong with the better 3-year-olds. And the questions that arise after their big efforts start to mount. Do they have enough conditioning and bottom to head into the Kentucky Derby without any more races under their belts? Do they skip the Derby, have another race and go into The Preakness? At least these are good problems/questions for their connections to have at this time.