Dead rail?

[Kingfisher]

Sure looked like a dead rail at Pimlico today.  Wondering about Lion Heart now. My horses in the Special ran one two- last and next to last. Maybe Funny Cide scratching should have caused a pause to consider the lack of pace. The race was over after the first quarter. Midway Road was, I think, the only horse on the rail able to nearly get  the distance, aided I am sure by his slow pace.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

They went consistently wide. You gotta be careful with a soft rail hypothesis, but the track was supposedly deep. Yesterday, when the track also appeared deep and slow, a soft rail theory did not hold up.

The two horses that appeared to overcome a soft rail theory were Thermal Ablasion and Midway Road. I didn\'t get to see Thermal\'s race so I don\'t know if he was on the rail. I thought Midway had a softish first fraction but from there on I felt the fractions very legit on that track. So its hard to say an anti rail bias wore him out. Regardless, I had the sense the rail wasn\'t the ideal place to be. I think watching it tomorrow will be the key.

[sabowen]

Regardless of \"dead rail\" perceptions, hate to change the subject, but what about Smarty\'s front bandages?  Didn\'t notice until the Derby.  Has he been wearing them all the time? Also, why no drf works listed for LH?  You guys are great, wish you best of luck.

[bdhsheets]

Smarty has been wearing the bandages from the get go.

Neither LH or Smarty has had a public work since the Derby, though Servis maintains Smarty is plenty fit. No Preakness winner exiting the Derby has won without a workout since 1986.

FWIW if Smarty doesn\'t win the Preakness, he\'s not going on to Belmont. Smart move.

[KJH]

Sheets: Is that a negative by Servis?  \"No Belmont if we don\'t win the Preakness\".  I see it as a word of worry looking for the bottom to drop out.  Bouncy, bouncy.

[Florida Phil]

Servis is nothing but positive.  But I think you got the \"Bouncy\" part right for Smarty.

[Kingfisher]

There is some logic to it, though. Smarty\'s a half-squeezed lemon at this point. Regarding the Triple Crown, the Belmont becomes the real test. But he has to retain some gas (lemon juice)in the tank. So the Preakness becomes the tune-up for the Belmont. So essentially, Servis runs the risk of running a short horse in the Preakness. But if he gets away with it, it leaves him with a better shot at the Belmont than if he trained the last two weeks with a focus on the Preakness. If Smarty loses, then he can pass the Belmont graciously and wait for the summer and fall races.

[kev]

One thing about SJ and bounce is he could bounce and still win, being the others throw in a bad one and theres a few in here thats too slow for him. GO SJ.