I thought Rosario\'s herding out of Maragh and Wicked, going into the first turn with Tonalist, may have been the difference in winning, and finishing second. But, that\'s race riding, and Rosario knew exactly who was outside of him when did it.
If I live to be 100 I will never understand Rosario\'s ride. Why he had Tonalist on Bayern\'s hip going into the first turn is incomprehensible. Tonalist\'s race was over after a quarter mile. I expect a new rider next time.
Got to give Rosario something, As well as the connections.. at least they went out and put some pressure on Bayern and did not let him just waltz around there.
I\'ll be interested to see what Richard Migliore has to say about the race when the NYRA National Racing Report does its post mortem. It looked to me like Rosario was trying to get Tonalist to come back to him without putting his feet in the dashboard. I thought that was why he drifted wide into the turn. It was reminiscent of Tonalist\'s run in the Peter Pan.
Rosario had no other choice. If no one goes with Bayern, Bayern probably wins. No one went with Bayern so Rosario took on the task. It was his only chance.
jerry Wrote:
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> Rosario had no other choice. If no one goes with
> Bayern, Bayern probably wins. No one went with
> Bayern so Rosario took on the task. It was his
> only chance.
If \"going with him\" also gives him little chance, what good is it?? There is no evidence that Bayern would get the distance if allowed on the lead with others tracking. Saying that was his only chance is being presumptuous. Nobody knows if that would have been the case.
What we do know is that taking a horse out of his natural running style often leads to a subpar performance.
I would rather let my horse do his natural running, and get his best effort. If its good enough to run down a horse loose on the lead, or even if it isn\'t, then fine. It wasn\'t a match race.
Not every loose on the lead horse wins, especially one that is going a distance never traveled before. We\'ve all seen horses win like Bayern did in the Haskell, and then not duplicate the next race. Especially when its a different distance and surface (track).
It\'s supposition, which covers most of the commentary on this board.
Exactly... look what happened to Verrazanno (SP?) last year!
Agree with you 100% P-Dub. It makes no sense to have a closer engage in an early dual with a speed horse. Any horse who acts as his own rabbit is just setting the race up for some other closer. Yes, it might get the speed horse beat, but also beat yourself in the process. Remember the Smarty Jones Belmont where Rock Hard Ten and Edington tried the same tactic and got their butts kicked? Sure you might spoil the chances of the speed horse, but what good does it do you if you end up beating yourself too?
I also agree that Bayern was no lead pipe cinch as he was likely to bounce after his monster Haskell effort as well as trying a new distance and surface. Better to let your horse run his best race against a less than sure thing than commit pace suicide.
Wicked Strong\'s rider didn\'t do himself any favors either by chasing that pace too as he was beaten by a fresh improving closer who was able to take advantage of the other riders dumb mistakes. WC actually did well to only get beat by a nose.
Maybe Beyer is right when he refers to jockeys as the little pinheads, though I suspect they were just riding to misguided instructions.
Bob