re: It is Preakness week!

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He finished the last quarter in 26 1/5

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Again, without a beyer that doesn't mean much. Also, he was ridden out inside the last 1/16th. He wasn't tiring. FWIW, I feel like I should be more impressed with his win than I am. I'm not going to start bashing him over times. It's not like he was coming back to the field and barely hung on. Other than Curve, nobody was gaining on him. So if we bash the winners time, do we just throw out the rest of them in the next two?

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I'm interested in seeing if they run Untapable in the Preakness.

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She is something else, but it may be asking a bit much of her. Rachel did it, but it was a much easier call with Mine that Bird winning the Derby. But hell, who knows what the owners will want to do.

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Again, without a beyer that doesn't mean much. Also, he was ridden out inside the last 1/16th. He wasn't tiring. FWIW, I feel like I should be more impressed with his win than I am. I'm not going to start bashing him over times. It's not like he was coming back to the field and barely hung on. Other than Curve, nobody was gaining on him. So if we bash the winners time, do we just throw out the rest of them in the next two?

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The last American dirt horse that actually looked like he wanted to go 1 1/2 mi in any timely fashion was Point Given. I truly think that Baffert screwed the pooch with his training before the Derby by being overconfident.

I know this will sound odd but other than PG's, the other great Belmont run in this century was Smarty Jones. Everyone remembers him stopping in the last quarter, but that poor horse ran a phenomenal mile and a quarter. The splits in that race were insane. The jockey completely F'ed up. SJ wasn't a real 1 1/2 mile horse, but he still would have won with a better jockey. It does appear the fallacy of a closer being a shoe-in for the Belmont is alive and well.

All this to say, I don't know why the final was so slow unless the crop really isn't that great. Chrome certainly wasn't laboring. He switched leads and was running straight as an arrow. Didn't bear out in the turn either. It is hard to go by the undercard dirt races since most were sprints. Glad everyone made it home safe.

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I am not sure I have ever seen him actually win a race. I feel like if he didn't have much the best, he didn't win. He was just along for the ride on most of his horses.

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In his heyday in the 80s, Pat Day's horses would get bet down to probably 2/3 of their value at Churchill; same at Fair Grounds, the few years he rode there. But that was before CD was really a major racing circuit (it was 2nd tier until the late 80s).

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In his heyday in the 80s, Pat Day's horses would get bet down to probably 2/3 of their value at Churchill; same at Fair Grounds, the few years he rode there. But that was before CD was really a major racing circuit (it was 2nd tier until the late 80s).

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I grew up never more than 15 minutes from Keeneland. I know the effect Day had on wagering. We always joked that if Day came out on a horse with 3 legs he'd go off 1/5.

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Overbrook

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Does this have anything to do with the farm?

This is a bad group of horses

Btw, no untapable for Preakness or Belmont. Steve says maybe later in the summer.

Chrome, curlin, and possibly curve are the only 3 headed on to pimlico from the derby.

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Does this have anything to do with the farm?

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I asked that too

Probably. Hopper is out (they still haven't said what is wrong after the bone scan), social inclusion is a maybe after scratching with a foot issue yesterday, and you've got Pablo del monte, bayern, and dynamic impact (ill derby) heading on. On paper there should be more pace, but on paper the derby should have been faster too. Vicar and wildcat didn't do as they were supposed to due to traffic issues.

I've been saying all winter this is a bad group. Maybe that ups our chances of a triple crown.


See my above edit. Great minds think alike.

Speaking of pace, I'm pretty sure I read this morning that yesterday's race was the slowest pace since the 70s. Which is absolutely ridiculous given that the track should've been reasonably fast yesterday.

Sherman said Victor told him Chrome got tired at the end so he didn't push him to save something for the Preakness. Don't know if that is a concern for the Belmont distance? There was a bad headwind coming home down the stretch.

Come on let me dream for a few days. Haha