A couple thoughts.
He didn\'t have some huge jump up today, although it may show that on TG. I think it is a bit complicated. Yes, I am as sure as I can be that TGJB had him too slow going into this race. The fact that 6 other hores were as fast or faster, is just alternate reality.
I say it is complicated, because I am sure the ground loss in may of other horse\'s figures was accurate, but alot of it was inflated. Covered that with General Arod and others prior to the derby. But a horse\'s ability to have multiple gears, leave the gate, get stalking position, press a fast pace and go on can\'t be factored mathematically into a figure. At least nothing on the market right now. Miff called it \"race track fast\" or something like that.
This is a special horse.
I don\'t think he was a good bet at 2-1. The inside draw, the x factor in a 19 horse field, the likelihood of a faster pace than there was, made 2-1 too short to take, and the value in the Oaks Double was horrific, as was the Oaks/Woodford/Derby pick-3.
The funny thing is while the trip was fine, he didn\'t really relax when in behind horses. Samraat had a chance to keep him pinned in and he was pulling a bit. But when he settled after the half, he got a nice trip from there and was long gone.
Last point. While he didn\'t look as good as he was on TG, if you are a Rags user with any common sense, you have to be demanding your money back this weekend. They had the Oaks runner up completely wrong and had California Chrome as a non-contender. At least he was \"one of the ones\" on TG. Not sure how the hell the Rags guys made the figures for Chrome.
If samraat would have dropped in behind CC instead of stalking outside, maybe he hits the board today. It would have given me a few more winners on my tickets.
Chrome walked back still breathing pretty heavy after the winners ceremony. He was a tired horse. But then he should have been. He pressed the pace and stretched away from the rest of the field until the next 3 finishers cleaned up coming from way out of it.
This horse is a good athlete, he is quick, explosive and can make his own trip. Now we get to see how good his recooperative powers are with a 2 week turnaround. Also glad to see a horse who began his career going short at 2 and continued to race regularly until he got really good at 3. This approach will not work for every horse these days but it did for this one.
Former Patriot and Bronco wide receiver Wes Welker took home $200K large+ on the day. $100K on the Derby and $100K+ on the 6th. Super\'s, Tri\'s Exactas everything. Former Patriot QB mate cleaned it for 40% of that amount on the 6th. Whoever knocked that 2 horse (the winner) down from 8-1 with a minute to post to 5-1 in a Million dollar Win pool...wtf....it wasnt them!! Good Nite!!
PS-I got the pictures to prove it
Once again the crowd amazes. With the exception of Commanding Curve, the complete order of finish was approximately in line with the win odds. Apparently very few realized, that one\'s dam, was a valid stamina influence.
Gary Stevens must have taken a lot of the tourists money. Because Candy Boy was the big under-performer vs odds. The only board steam he got, as I recall, was condensation.
Intense Holiday got an odd trip? Who expected him to track along in 5th and then drop anchor. I\'m still buying into J. Covello\'s belief that something unknown or unpublicized is affecting the horse. Yes not making the distance is no surprise. But he is the closest to a wise guy flop in a year in which we had no standout in that category.
Rosie may be able to whip on up Weir, but she got mugged by a mob today. It was expected and not pretty. Nice NBC feature on her.
The Wood fails for an 11th year to get into derby trifecta. I think its because spring comes later in NY than the other venues. One of my forecasted AK Derby horses into the trifecta. Not such a weak race.
Alas, My hope DWF did not jump up, but actually ran impressively, to 6th about what the crowd expected and I feared.
Re: I glanced at the Rags site. There must be some kind of technical snafu because I didn\'t see any new posts. Nada.Nary a one?
Why are u so concerned about any new posts on the Rags forum. Don\'t you have anything better to begin your post with then whether they are having some kind of technical snafu or not. If there are not any posts on their board ..... So what\'s the big deal about it. Get real eh.....
I looked and seen a half dozen or so today. Odd there when they are mentioning the value of the sheets with a couple exceptions all the talk was about them identifying how poorly WTC was gonna run, and how well Wise Dan would run. A couple comments about Wicked Strong\'s poor trip.
Haven\'t read one post about any of their people making money on the Derby.
I check out that site to see what\'s NOT being said.
That was the Derby Stack. The stack from the 6th race was twice that size and got stuffed inside Bradys Officers uniform vest!! Love the outfit.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/05/wes-welker-kentucky-derby