JB- please review and comment

[Dudley]

Triple Crown | Posted 6/3/2008, 5:32 pm
 
Big Brown already had his bounce
By MARTY McGEE
 
ELMONT, N.Y. - When taking questions from the media outside Barn 2 after Big Brown breezed Tuesday morning at Belmont Park, trainer Rick Dutrow initially dealt at length with the minutiae of the workout and the colt\'s ongoing situation with his quarter crack.

Then came some other topics, such as the outlook for Big Brown from the perspective of the Ragozin sheets, the colt\'s tentative racing schedule beyond the Belmont, and how many new friends Dutrow seems to have made over the last few weeks.

Dutrow seemed nonplussed when a questioner noted that Big Brown \"regressed\" from a 2 1/4 Ragozin figure in the Florida Derby and a minus-3/4 in the Kentucky Derby by getting a 3 3/4 in the Preakness.

\"Well, that\'s good,\" said Dutrow. \"It\'s good that he did [regress]. I think we did it really smart in the Preakness.\"

On both the Ragozin and Thoro-Graph sheets, both widely used throughout the Thoroughbred industry, lower numbers are faster. But when a horse earns a particularly low figure - negative numbers are rare - a horse often will \"bounce\" to a higher, or slower, figure.

Len Friedman, a partner in the Ragozin sheets, said Tuesday that \"Ricky got it right,\" adding the move to a higher figure in the Preakness probably bodes well for Big Brown\'s chances Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

\"It\'s still a neutral pattern,\" said Friedman. \"He\'s better off that he bounced in the Preakness, and now he\'s got a better chance of going forward again. I\'d say it\'s about 50-50 on which way he moves Saturday.\" ..... (edited for content relevance)
Copyright © 2007 Daily Racing Form, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Jerry- Aside from the contrast in figs, do you see it as a \"neutral\" pattern? Thanks.

[TGAB]

JB is actually out of the office today on business. He may make it back later but if not he\'ll respond tomorrow. In any event you\'ll be able to get an idea of what he thinks about Big Brown later on today when we put the card together. The Belmont will be the race of the week.

[Dudley]

Thanks Alan.

[flushedstraight]

TG, thanks for the ROTW.

check math in comments on Denis of Cork. 11 weeks since big effort?

[TGAB]

Yeah, it\'s more like 16 weeks--even better. Bad proofreading on my part.