Shared belief

[miff]

Shared Belief\'s race was average on the clock, his trip horrific re ground loss.Dirt form ok but seems more confident on synth.Hollendorfer remarked that SB was not handling SA dirt surface too well on Sat, may play with shoes.

Two yr old, American Pharoah, ran a \"projected\" 1 1/8 mile race just as fast as SB on the clock,but lost no ground.

BC Classic looking very ordinary outside of SB and Tonalist who is not that fast. Older horses, Moreno, Zivo et al are mediocre, Wicked Strong not playing. Maybe a Euro can sneak up on them.

[TGJB]

Haven\'t done it yet but the relationship will come out about right if SB and Pharoah both paired their last.

Agree there\'s the potential for an out of the clouds bomb in the Classic.

Meanwhile, I can\'t believe some are defending the use of an uncoupled entry mate to take out an opponent. Imagine if we had to guess each time Pletcher and Chad Brown had an uncoupled entry which was trying to win and which was running interference.

[KK4510]

If they had coupled entries on the West Coast, You would have 7 horse fields with three betting interests. Baffert and Hollendorfer run multiple horses in a race quite often. Throw in a few Sadler and Miller horses we\'re looking a match race.

[TGJB]

The problem is not that they\'re uncoupled, it\'s if they act like they ARE coupled. Anybody who bet on Espinoza\'s horse had no shot-- he wasn\'t trying to win.

[P-Dub]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The problem is not that they\'re uncoupled, it\'s if
> they act like they ARE coupled. Anybody who bet on
> Espinoza\'s horse had no shot-- he wasn\'t trying to
> win.

100% agree, I had this discussion with a buddy of mine after the race.

Its OK to run a stablemate to try and eliminate another horse??  I get the \"rabbit\" concept, but herding out and trying to interfere is ridiculous.

Would you like betting on races with THAT going on every time??

[TGJB]

My point. Think about how many times at Saratoga Pletcher and Brown had uncoupled entries.

Same for using an UNcoupled entrymate as a rabbit, too.

[Flighted Iron]

TGJB,

  Espinoza received 7 days for the ride . At the very least baffert should
have some answering to do .

[TGJB]

I completely agree with that. Espinoza was in a bad spot-- tough to say no. And afterward Baffert professed ignorance.

[shanahan]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I completely agree with that. Espinoza was in a
> bad spot-- tough to say no. And afterward Baffert
> professed ignorance.


Not only that, he went on Roger Stein\'s show and said he \"never give riders any advice\"...said he learned that from Frankel...

[TGJB]

I wonder how everyone would be taking this if SB had lost the photo, and taken a coupla million in bets down with him...

[Flighted Iron]

\"These guys are fierce competitors,\" Baffert said, alluding to Espinoza, Smith, and others in the jockey colony. \"I see it happen to my horses when you have a good one. I didn\'t tell Victor to do that. He stayed away from my other horse, Fed Biz...Game On Dude, that\'s why I retired him, because he was starting to get mugged, every race. I didn\'t cry about it. I just retired him.\"


From an article in ESPN Horse Racing

[Boscar Obarra]

About the ride, to quote the old joke,

\"You gonna believe me or your eyes?\"

[analizethis]

Here\'s another angle on the Espinoza motive.

If he really pushes SB with a horse with no shot not only does he help BB but he and CC also might face a runner with a little less in the tank on November 1.

I don\'t think Chrome is a big contender but it sure would be nice if the favorite was short.

[Dick Powell]

I have always liked the way Australian Racing handles this. Their rule is that every horse has to be raced to their best advantage. For a horse to be ridden like Sky Kingdom was, the rider would have to explain to the stewards how that helped him try to win the race. Ireland continues to allow Aidan O\'Brien to employ team tactics. The Brits are a bit tough on them.