"And, if you are asking me for a personal opinion, the use of pacemakers in other jurisdictions is a blight on racing. Once you cross the line into allowing a horse to be ridden as a pacemaker for a better-fancied stablemate, you are allowing that horse to be run in a manner which may not be in its own best interests, and then I think you cross into very dangerous territory."

"The big question at this point is, who will be the pace factors?" Steve Haskin spins out the possibilities.

"The early fractions made the Florida Derby among the slowest-paced of dirt preps thus far. Quality Road's tactical speed and patience gave him an advantage over Dunkirk, who was farther back [approximately eight lengths behind through the first half] than expected and launched a powerful burst leaving the three-eighths pole that I timed at :11.7 for a furlong and :24.1 for a quarter-mile [compare that to :24.62 for Quality Road] in his stakes debut and only the third start of his career."