About 30 years ago I saw a 6f stakes race (no turns) at The Curragh in Ireland that had 28 horses in it.  The winner won by 8 lengths.  That has to be some sort of record.

I\'ll throw in one more idea I have to help the fan base -

For the following bets - WPS, Ex, DD, and maybe Tri and P3 - why not give a 10% payout increase to on-track bettors only.  And only for the host track\'s races, not for simulcast races.  That\'s one way to increase on-track attendance and betting.

Ken

It could\'ve been much worse.  I read that if the jockey had used the whip 2 more times, the horse would\'ve been DQed.

No Lasix.  I think the general rule-of-thumb was that Lasix meant a 2-point jump.  And then there\'s the \"supposed\" crackdown on EPO & stuff like that.

Don\'t forget - if CB wins, he\'ll be in the Preakness.  Not saying he will,  
but ...

One correction - Point Given won the Preakness & Belmont, but not the Derby.  But your point is still valid.

With last years\' Jim Dandy still in my mind, I\'m wondering - if SL bears in, sideswipes 3 or 4 horses, and goes on to win, will they DQ him?  I wouldn\'t take even money on him for this reason alone.

Also, while I\'m thinking about it, a memory test for me - I think I vaguely recall sometime last century the Saratoga stewards DQed the wrong horse and got exiled to Finger Lakes for that.  Am I right about that?

At the start it looked like a little of both.  SL didn\'t break smoothly, and then Irad bumped him a little.  But in the stretch it was all SL - it looked like he may have bumped Honor M and then veered in sharply and bumped someone else.  I was surprised there was no inquiry.  I\'m wondering if he gets spooked by crowd noise, and maybe they should try those Gate Dancer ear muffs on him.

Just curious what weather forecast you saw.  Up-to-date forecast from The Weather Channel for Saratoga -

Thurs 71% chance of showers
Fri 58%
Sat 54%

But I do hope for a fast track.

I like Heavy too, for the same reasons, plus the sire improvement stat from 2 to 3 is a 4-pt. jump.  Only thing is, in advance betting, he\'s down to 7-1.  We\'ll see if that holds.

Also Hansel, Pine Bluff, Tank\'s Prospect

Here\'s mine.

Years - 1995-2023 excluding 2020.  Note: I included the 2 fillies who ran Oaks/Preakness - Rachel Alexandra, Secret Oath.

I used the standards from previous Derby seminars of -
Top - more than 1 pt. faster than previous top
Pair - within 1 pt. either way of the previous top
Off - 1-4 pts. worse than top
X - more than 4 pts. worse than top

Top in Derby:
------------
Preakness:
Top   1    3.8%
Pair  7   26.9%
Off  12   46.2%
X     6   23.1%

Pair in Derby:
-------------
Preakness:
Top   9   22.0%
Pair 12   29.3%
Off  14   34.1%
X     6   14.6%

Off in Derby:
------------
Preakness:
Top   4   15.4%
Pair  6   23.1%
Off  11   42.3%
X     5   19.2%

X in Derby:
----------
Top   2    6.1%
Pair  7   21.2%
Off   9   27.3%
X    15   45.4%

Total of all who ran in both:
----------------------------
Preakness:
Top  16   12.7%
Pair 32   25.4%
Off  46   36.5%
X    32   25.4%

Lukas
_____
Derby 3 top, Preakness 2 pair, 1 top
Derby 6 pair, Preakness 2 top, 2 pair, 2 off
Derby 5 off, Preakness 1 pair, 2 off, 2 X
Derby 4 X, Preakness 1 top, 1 pair, 2 X

The X-pair is closest to Just Steel - in 2009, Flying Private ran a top of 2 in March, a small off in the Ark. Derby, a 15-pt. X in the Derby, and then a return to top in the Preakness, finishing a good 4th to Rachel A.

Lukas also won the Preakness in 2013 with Oxbow off a 4.25 X in the Derby, but a 2.25 new top in the Preakness.

The other 2 Derby X\'s:
High Yield 2000 - 3 - 5 - 11.5 Derby - 8.25 Preak.
Gone Wild 2005 - 4 - 15.75 - 10.5 - 15.5 Derby - 17.25 Preak.

I can also go back 1 year to 1994, when Tabasco Cat paired in the Derby and then ran a 3.5 new top to win the Preakness.

McPeek
------
He has only 1 example, and it\'s similar to Mystik Dan -
Harlan\'s Holiday 2002 ran 3 pts. off his top in the Derby (same as Mystik Dan), and then ran 1 point better in the Preakness than the Derby.

Baffert
_______
We all remember last year when he couldn\'t run in the Derby, but National Treasure matched his 3-yr old top of 4 in the Preakness (!.25 slower than his 2-yr old top), but still won because of a rail trip and a weak field.

I found 1 other where he skipped the Derby and ran in the Preakness - Governor Charlie ran a top in late March, but then a 9.5 X in the Preakness.  I will say I don\'t believe he was anywhere nearly as highly regarded as Muth.  His top was in the Sunland Derby - where Baffert runs his second-stringers.

Ken

What is it about CD that causes announcers to miss horses coming thru at the rail?    Not only these 2 examples but also Trevor Denman missed Street Sense in the BC Juvenile.  I never see this happening anywhere else.

Thanks for posting this.  I\'m alive with 6 and 14.  Any idea what the consolation DD would pay if the trainer of 14 convinces the owner to scratch?

I read Tim\'s book Personal Foul.  He said the FBI hooked him up to a lie detector test and asked - Did Dick Bavetta ever tell you he was the NBA\'s \"go-to guy\" who could deliver the results the league wanted?  Tim replied yes.  He passed.  Dick was one of the refs in the infamous Lakers-Sacramento game 6 in 2002.  Funny thing in the book-it included a copy of a letter Ralph Nader sent to David Stern asking for an investigation into that game.