Remember the Summer Bird Belmont where everyone assumed that Charitable Man would have an easy lead but instead, Pletcher sent Dunkirk straight to the lead and he held on for a piece in a very gutty performance that most certainly increased his stallion value?
I expect he will do the same with Commissioner.
No real pace in race and he has believed Commissioner could be closer to the pace all along
I think they send him and see if he can get to the lead and get in a good rhythm being left alone on the lead (because no one is worried about him winning)
it worked for D\'Tara and it worked for Dunkirk.
I would be surprised if they didn\'t try it with Commisionner. These are very very smart connections, they know they don\'t have much of a chance of hitting the board if they play the race straight up and hitting the board would mean alot for his stallion value given the pedigree
no matter who you like in the race, it\'s worthwhile to consider that scenario for the race shapes
Very well thought out idea. I bet Dunkirk that year and he got considerable pressure earlier than he should have and I think it was from Mine that Bird.
I don\'t see Chrome going and if he and Commissioner and Samraat can come to a mutual agreement upfront that\'s its going to be between us and forget the rest of them then some of these closers are gonna have a problem if they crawl this thing in 1:13+.....
The 2nd split looks like the most important 24.2 or slower has produced two wire to wire winners in the last 20 runnings, like Da\'Tara 23.4, 24.2. Dunkrik went 23.2, 23.8 held on for 2nd!
Wrongly Wrote:
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> The 2nd split looks like the most important 24.2
> or slower has produced two wire to wire winners in
> the last 20 runnings, like Da\'Tara 23.4, 24.2.
> Dunkrik went 23.2, 23.8 held on for 2nd!
Track was very quick on Summer Bird/Dunkirk day. You have to adjust those numbers quite a bit. Dunkirk was indeed game though. Suffered a condylar fracture at some point in the race. With SB going on to be champion, you could call that exacta the real deal.
Migliore this morning said he has spoken with Rick Violette trainer of Samraat and they are looking for a 49 half from their colt regardless of what the others are doing. That being the case there is probably no reason for Commissioner or Chrome to be going 47 on their own.
Perhaps Tonalist is put into the race very quickly but he needs to break a LOT better than he did in the last race himself. If that\'s the case where does it put these Looping Closers like Commanding Curve or Wicked Strong? Five off the lead down the backstretch?
The key will as Covello hypothesized does Pletcher send Commissioner? And if he does how fast early is \"Send Him\"??
There are horses ridden by a ground conscious rider and another trained by a ground conscious trainer in the outside posts.