This is some pretty funny stuff. Thank god Baffert is trainer with a sense of humor. Gomez might have had TWO fights on his hands after the race if Baffert wasn\'t so cool.
Baffert blamed Gomez for a bad ride.
"It was bad luck. It was a bad trip,\" Baffert said. \"You can't be on the inside on this track. (Gomez) took him back and he was fighting him. It was horrendous; his ride was horrendous. It's unfortunate. The horse is a good horse. That's the thing about synthetic. They're not going to go fast. Keep him up there. He's so afraid to let this horse run early, and it's a shame, because that's not Garrett. I don't know why. He threw an interception."
Baffert said he could not say if he would replace Gomez. "I'm not going to talk about that right now,\" he said. \"I cannot believe he rode him that way. It's ridiculous."
Asked about the inquiry that followed, in which stewards made no change in the order of finish, Baffert said: "I didn't really care. When I saw him on the rail, I said, 'What is he doing?' He must not have seen Jerry Bailey's tape. We're going to buy him some DVDs."
This is funny
That said, Gomez is not a pin head, I think he knew that he needed to try to save ground to beat SC yesterday given that SC\'s best syn fig was the same as LAL and that SC was going to save alot of ground being on the lead by himself. A 5 wide trip wasn\'t going to get the job done yesterday.
LAL has alot of heart overcoming these trips in the last few races where he was stopped and then back in the BC from the 14 post but he\'s going to encounter these same problems in the derby and his best dirt fig is going to be several points slower than Esk and LAL figures to lose more ground in the Derby than Esk given Esk\'s tactical speed so I am a bit more bearish on LAL\'s chances today than I was heading into this weekend.
I put alot of stock into how Gomez rode him, that told me something about how good (or not) Gomez thinks he is right now, at least in relation to SC.
Baffert\'s comments were funny but I don\'t think it was an accident that GoGo had him down on the inside.
Silver,
Am I missing something? Where\'s the funny?
mjs
A.) He threw an interception.
B.) We are going to buy him some Jerry Bailey DVD\'s
C.) Jill Baffert kicked Victor Espinoza\'s ass
D.) All the above
I have not had a chance to look back at the replays until now of the SA derby..While watching it live I could not see anything wrong with Garret\'s ride..He was saving ground on the rail only 2.5 lengths behind the leader. Just when he is starting his move Espinoza\'s horse drifts into him path forcing him to check. To me it\'s more bad luck than a bad ride. Would they have rather had him be last in the field behind a slow pace making a 5 wide run? I thought he was in a great position to make his run as Gomez was starting to move with him to try to get outside of Sydney at the top of the lane.
Anybody else see the ride as terrible..I\'m just trying to see what everyone else is talking about.
Baffert was being completely sarcastic in his criticism of Gomez if you didn\'t pick up on it. Gomez ran the perfect race and got jobbed by a douche who had it in for Baffert.
I agree. He had half a length worth of position alongside and was saving ground. Then Victor just came over. I think LAL gets through clean and he loses by maybe a length at most and it might have been even closer.
If I am Baffert, I say why take the risk on the inside, but if I am GoGo, I say to Victor \"You ****, you just cost me 20 grand or whatever. I could lose my temper over that. For crying out loud, I would have a much worse temper being short and skinny and not being able to eat what I want. Good thing they don\'t let \'em wear holsters...
Leamas.
The ride maybe was not the best in the sense that the pace was very slow and the horse on the lead was the one to beat.Gogo had to put LAL up inside closer to the leader, he did not and when he tried the hole got smaller.Maybe he did not feel enough horse under him to move up in to the hole earlier.
Very possible Espinoza tightened the hole up, which jocks do while race-riding. Normally, when a jock feels his horse is empty they get out of the way, Espinoza did not.
Mike
Here is the overhead shot. Doesnt look at all bad to me what Espinosa did. Any other opinions after watching? The Bailey comment is interesting. I remember helping Kent D on the day he was inducted to the HOF and he commented that if he was riding in NY the rail wouldnt be so open ... What impresses most is Setsuko (?) Looks like LAL got the jump on him and he flew right by ... Yes, hard to tell how it all would have shaken out if LAL wasnt stopped ... enjoy ...
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/36180194#36180194
Thanks Niall,
Tough to see if the hole was there earlier. Surprised to see Gomez throwing right handed crosses at LAL while Setsuko runs right past him on the outside.Never know how much getting stopped took out of LAL, but looked empty late.
Mike
miff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks Niall,
>
> Tough to see if the hole was there earlier.
> Surprised to see Gomez throwing right handed
> crosses at LAL while Setsuko runs right past him
> on the outside.Never know how much getting stopped
> took out of LAL, but looked empty late.
>
>
> Mike
Besides getting stopped on the turn, he got ping-pinged around at the top of the stretch..He also was closing on the inside while Setsuko is closing outside..Almost always the horse closing on the outside moves better.
I have to admit, from that footage, it looks like Gomez took a risk and it cost him. I didn\'t know there was a horse that close to the outside of Espinoza\'s horse either. Now I have some footage in mouthage...
Thanks for the link.
Leamas.
Silver,
For a guy(baffert)who has a near limitless amount of nice horses and entrusted
to display patience and professionalism with them makes me wonder how he can
jump the gun on Gomez\'s ride.From what I saw in the video Gomez had established
decent position and was the recipient of bad race riding luck.I suppose what I\'m saying is Baffert is an ass for commenting so quickly and disparagingly towards
Gomez.\"Praise in public and reprimand in private\" if it\'s warranted.In this case
imo Baffert dropped his pants.His comments(all of them)compel me to question his
character and professionalism.
mjs
Umm.. Baffort was being a sarcastic smartass.. He loves Gomez. They are getting a good laugh out of it right now that these remarks are being reported as being serious. I can\'t believe nobody else around here hast picked up on it.