Any Thoughts on Smiling Tiger???

[Dana666]

He comes out of a super game try in the track record performance of Twirling Candy on 12/26; now what do we do with him today in a field he seemingly lays over with the possible exception of Ventana? Why in the world would he work in 57.3 (best of 85 works!)just 12 days after the Malibu? I don\'t know how to read that. Is he still that strong? He worked another strong work 7 days after that. He should also be the main speed in the race from the rail. So he can\'t lose, right? Any thoughts??? I also thought Ventana\'s form was always compromised by the synthetic surfaces and he should love the dirt and comes in fresh off excellent works over the local strip, but I feel like an idiot using 2 horses in a pick 4 or pick 6 when one is 3-5 and the other 9-5 in a 6 horse field! No snide remarks, I know some of you think I\'m an idiot already. Seriously, does anyone have an opinion here???

[Dana666]

Looks like another HUGE inside speed track. I\'ll just forget the wise-guy stuff and use only Smiling Tiger. I\'ll need a $50 pick 4 to make any serious $$$ though I have a few long-shots in the other races.

[drbillym]

Short price on short rest.  May not like the rail as last start was a good race where he could see them all from the outside. Euroears first start for Baffert can surprise.

[Rick B.]

Looks to me like Baffert will use Euroears to clear out the early gas, setting it up for the other Baffert horse, Ventana.

[Rick B.]

Rick B. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks to me like Baffert will use Euroears to
> clear out the early gas, setting it up for the
> other Baffert horse, Ventana.

There, fixed it.

Sheesh. When will I learn?

[Dana666]

That\'s what I thought, too! Smiling Tiger also looked terrible on the track, all drawn-up and stressed, so I unloaded on Ventana and, of course, Baffert\'s other horse Euroears ran away from them. Typical. Great Day!

[P-Dub]

Not busting balls here, but if 2 contenders are 3/1 and 9/1 why wouldn\'t you play the 9/1??

[Dana666]

Right you are! Or you could put it another way, when a trainer puts 2 in an uncoupled \"entry\" either use them both or use the longer priced one! I honestly didn\'t  think both Baze and Bejarano would grab their horses early and leave Smith all alone in front though. I really figured Tiger would have to be sent hard inside and Ventana would get a better trip, but as it was Bejarano grabbed Ventana into submission, and he was never in the race at any point. I had huge pick 4\'s with all the other bases covered, but you required me to think a little outside the box, and my brain wasn\'t going there today. I do not for the life of me understand why trainers over-race their horses though. I was on the right track with thinking Tiger might be wiped out from his huge previous effort. A guy who knows something always told me to beware of very fast works after huge efforts, they mean just the opposite of what you think they mean, esp. if they are within one week of the big effort. We see this all the time out in California though. I should have looked closer at Euroears though, one guy in this thread mentioned him but I was gone already. Oh well, tomorrow\'s another day. Did P-Val get hurt???

[P-Dub]

P Val is fine, nothing serious.  He should ride Sunday.

I was hoping Tiger would run off the board. That would have knocked out the majority of Showvivor players, leaving it at less than 30 from the original 4600 entries.

After running in the BC, then a huge Malibu effort, followed by the huge works, just felt that was a lot to ask of him. Euroears ran a tremendous race and keyed some really nice prices.

[TGJB]

If ST had lost that show photo I would have made an awful lot of money. Did well enough, but still...

[Marlin]

Jerry, Are we seeing horses reacting badly to the hard surface @ SA?  Thinking that a trend of avoiding any horses who ran on that new dirt surface is accurate?
Thoughts.

[TGJB]

Way too soon to make judgements about that, but in general horses will bounce more on dirt than on turf-like Pro-Ride or Poly.