Derby Done-- Now What

[richiebee]

An extremely slow night at work, allowing time for post Derby musings.

First, a good job by those on the board who did not try to reinvent the wheel
and went with the fastest horse in the Derby. \"The race is not always to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that\'s the way to bet\" Extra points to
those who can identify the biblical passage just quoted and the famous race
writer who embellished it.

As I watched the Derby replayed numerous times, I was amazed at the ease with
which Calvin Borel was able to advance along the rail, while at the same time
thinking about how many times riders seem to get stopped cold in 5 and 6 horse
fields.

Is Street Sense a strong Triple Crown candidate? I think Racing could really
use a Triple Crown winner, and New York Racing in particular really needs a
Belmont Stakes where there is a Triple Crown at stake. Nafzger comes off as a
conservative trainer who under different circumstances might not campaign his
horse in the strenous TC grind, but even Nafzger must be aware what a Triple
Crown Winner would mean to Racing at this point. The biggest knock on SS\'s
chances in the Preakness is that the race is not run at Churchill Downs.

I got tired of watching the constant replay of Nafzger and Mrs. Genter (kind of
reminded me of Zero Mostel in the original \"Producers\" movie) but Nafzger is
a \"hay oats and water\" kind of guy who used to test his own employees for drugs
long before the various tracks ever thought of doing it. I think he began
planning this colt\'s 3YO campaign a few minutes after last years BC Juvie and
the enigmatic Blue Grass Stakes was a masterful job of training, where SS was
probably only 85-90% cranked (and almost won the BG anyway) and had
quite a bit left in his Derby tank.

Pletcher? I will reserve judgment on whether TAP\'s Derby futility is medication
related. It is possible he will join the ranks of some great trainers through
history-- Mott, Frankel, Whittingham, McGaughey and Jerkens come to mind-- who
have not had success in the Derby proportional (proportionate?) to their
overall accomplishments.  Most surprising to me was that Any Given
Saturday (barely beaten by SS at Tampa), Circular Quay (Louisiana Derby winner
and 2 time winner at CD) and Scat Daddy (Florida Derby winner) could all have
their Derby performances described with 2 words seen frequently in DRF charts
and PPs: NO FACTOR.

Personal Wagering Notes: Caught the Pick 3 which ended with the Derby, keying
Street Sense. My strategy in the first 2 legs was to toss short price layoff
runners Pussycat Doll in the Humana Distaff and Better Talk Now in the
Woodford. Mission accomplished, but I thought that given the size of the fields
(10, 10 and 20) the gimmick should have paid more than $927.60. No complaints as
this was my only bet of the day (5x5x1 for $1 twice).

Tough beat for those on the board who liked Brilliant in the Woodford. The
chart on the winner was as follows: \"Sky Conqueror went to his knees at the
start, settled in hand five wide, edged in a bit on the backstretch, came out
nine wide leaving the second turn to secure room, drifted out for a stride
about the sixteenth pole, was straightened soon after and came over in front of
Better Talk Now forcing him to steady for a stride, leaned in further bumping
with Danzon, then closed determinedly to wear down Brilliant\". If I had needed
Brilliant to win I might be wondering how there was no claim of foul or look by
the Stewards in that race.

Fun fact from the Woodford: Better Talk Now only beat his rabbit, Shake The
Bank, by 3/4 length. Maybe STB\'s owners can take a look at what Icy Atlantic was
able to accomplish in his California races when relieved of his rabbit duties
for English Channel.

[SoCalMan2]

The passage is from Ecclesiates.  Sorry I do not know the chapter and verse numbers.  Damon Runyon helped it along.

I agree big time on the tough beat for people who had Brilliant.  I thought Sky Conqueror should definitely have come down and I have no idea why more was not made of that.

In terms of rabbits doing well, that reminds me of unexpected things that can happen with rabbits.  I know there have been times that the rabbit wins, but how about times where the primary horse goes to the front and duels with its own rabbit?!?!?!?  That actually happened very recently.  This again involves everybody\'s favorite whipping boy -- Todd Pletcher. It was the Jockey Club Gold Cup 2005 and Pletcher had the 3-2 favorite (Flower Alley) and also entered the confirmed sprinter Bishop Court Hill.  Somehow, Flower Alley, Lava Man, and Bishop Court Hill ended up in a hammer and tongs, full-fledged, three way speed duel which set up Borrego\'s dramatic and memorable sweeping move to win that race (I do not think that many people remember the ludicrous front end duel in that race which set up the dramatic swoop).

Joe Hirsch was there (the second running of his namesake stakes had just be run), and I asked him had he ever seen a rabbit and his entrymate dueling on the front end in a major stakes before.  Joe thought and said that it wasn\'t in a major stakes, but he did remember something akin to what we had just watched happen at Saratoga.  El Gran Senor had sent out an entry and put Eddie Belmonte on the intended victor who was a closer.  Sure enough, Belmonte sends the primary horse into a duel with his own rabbit.  Back at the unsaddling, Luro asks Belmonte what happened.  Belmonte says the horse wanted to run and he did not know how to hold the horse back.  Luro screams \"you did not know how to hold the horse!!! You do it like this...\" and then he proceeds to wrap his hands around Belmonte\'s neck and makes stangling motions.  According to Joe, Luro got days for the outburst, so this incident might be able to be retrievable by somebody with better search skills than me.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

Damon Runyon, but I\'m not aware of the biblical passage.

I\'ve watched the replay a dozen or more times now and as good as Street Sense was he was also fortunate. Two other horses impress from that race. One is Hard Spun, the other Tiago.

I didn\'t bet the Woodford, but I\'m pretty sure BetterTalkNow as impeded.

English Channel, full to Sedgefield I think.

On a final note, I think TGraph devotees are gonna have some fun in the Derby in the coming years if the pre race blood testing continues. If the sport can be cleaned up those with the best information stand to benefit the most.

[SoCalMan2]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Tough beat for those on the board who liked
> Brilliant in the Woodford. The
> chart on the winner was as follows: \"Sky Conqueror
> went to his knees at the
> start, settled in hand five wide, edged in a bit
> on the backstretch, came out
> nine wide leaving the second turn to secure room,
> drifted out for a stride
> about the sixteenth pole, was straightened soon
> after and came over in front of
> Better Talk Now forcing him to steady for a
> stride, leaned in further bumping
> with Danzon, then closed determinedly to wear down
> Brilliant\". If I had needed
> Brilliant to win I might be wondering how there
> was no claim of foul or look by
> the Stewards in that race.
>

In the racing form, Castellano (jockey of Sky Conqueror) is quoted as saying \"I am glad he stayed up.\"  What is not clear to me is whether he meant that he is glad the horse did not fall down when he dwelt or that he was not DQ\'ed.  I really feel for people who would have done well if SC had been placed 4th, as on the other 364 (sometimes 365) days of the year, that horse comes down.

[P-Dub]

Tell me about it.

I have a nice double with Brilliant/SS, it killed my P3 ending with SS. Not to mention killing my exacta and tri as I didn\'t have SC on top, but had the 2-4 finishers.

I got out with the Derby exacta, but thats small consolation.

Great job again with your product Jerry.

[magicnight]

From the archives of the NY Times (though the archives of the Racing Form or Daily News might be more useful here):

\"SARATOGA, Aug. 11 (1969) - Horatio Luro, the trainer with a consistently good record since he came from the Argentine almost 40 years ago, was suspended today for the balance of the Saratoga meeting by the stewards. The suspension will commence tomorrow. Luro became embroiled in an altercation with Eddie Belmonte, the jockey who rode Sharp-Eyed Quillo, trained by Luro, on Saturday\'s program.\"

Looks like he got two weeks. He must have put a Sprewell on him!

[SoCalMan2]

Thanks tons for the good work on finding that!  The last two weeks of Saratoga is a pretty stiff penalty.  Does anybody know how good a horse Sharp-Eyed Quillo was?  At least he was running on a Saturday card.