Word for word,from Baltimore Sunpaper:
Though he didn\'t say so,Jones clearly wasn\'t happy with the job Gomez did.
\"We\'re trying not to talk about that right now,\"said Jones,who with owner Rick Porter made the decision to use Gomez instead of Hard Spun\'s regular rider, Mario Pino,in this race.\"But I was very surprised my horse was not on the lead, especially given the slow early fractions.The lead has always showed that it worked well for him before.\"
\"I\'d say there is a really good high-percentage shot that Mario will be back on this horse in the futre.\"
sandra.mckee@baltsun.com
Someday this horse will win (probably on the lead),but his placing in the Preakness and Belmont would not have varied no matter who was on his back.
Psst, Larry Jones, your horse is over the top, stay off him in the am and wind him down, duh!!
I would have thought they\'d want their horse on the lead - control the pace , benefit from the fractions and maybe save a little ground - what in the H is wrong with that - go figure , perhaps L.J.\'s reading too much of that Camus junk . plus IMO - with Mr Jones up as an exercise rider , HS might be ready for the \"worlds strongest horse\" competition very soon ...
You\'re not talking to the decision maker, Miff.
Pretty obvious to me that the decision to run HS in all 3 TC events was Porter
driven (as was the decision to replace Pino). Owner Porter has proven in the
past that he does not know when to stop on a horse (Rockport Harbor).
HS went well over Poly; with his pedigree maybe a turf try is in his future.
The whole Gomez issue was not well timed. I would have fired Gomez immediately and never put him back up, but if it was up to me I\'d put George Bush in jail too. Pino would have definitely helped Hard Spun in that race, but he finished with such a complete lack of interest he must have been on the downward curve of his form cycle, as the entire field was.
CtC
davidrex Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Word for word,from Baltimore Sunpaper:
> Though he didn\'t say so,Jones clearly wasn\'t happy
> with the job Gomez did.
> \"We\'re trying not to talk about that right
> now,\"said Jones,who with owner Rick Porter made
> the decision to use Gomez instead of Hard Spun\'s
> regular rider, Mario Pino,in this race.\"But I was
> very surprised my horse was not on the lead,
> especially given the slow early fractions.The lead
> has always showed that it worked well for him
> before.\"
> \"I\'d say there is a really good high-percentage
> shot that Mario will be back on this horse in the
> futre.\"
>
> sandra.mckee@baltsun.com
>
> Someday this horse will win (probably on the
> lead),but his placing in the Preakness and Belmont
> would not have varied no matter who was on his
> back.