B.C. Review

[TGJB]

 Let me see, who was it... look, I didn\'t say anything that would cause you to have to defend yourself. The only one I accused of bad intentions (and I said he may have
started with good ones) was Marc.
 There were a number of distinctions made that your ellipsis obliterated (and I had already fixed it).
 She\'s in Turkey, comes back Friday.
 I never wanted to have this discussion in the first place, remember?

[Alydar in California]

JB wrote: \"Let me see, who was it... look, I didn\'t say anything that would cause you to have to defend yourself.\"

  I wasn\'t defending myself. I wrote the Plever/Patent bit to remind you that you might want to trust me when I tell you that you\'re wrong about someone else.

\"The only one I accused of bad intentions (and I said he may have
started with good ones) was Marc.\"

 You\'re wrong about his intentions.
 
 \"There were a number of distinctions made that your ellipsis obliterated (and I had already fixed it).\"

 I\'ll be happy to get to all of them in due course. My stamina has no end. By the way, are you the only person who gets to edit his posts?

\"She\'s in Turkey, comes back Friday.\"

 You already know what I think you should do here.

\"I never wanted to have this discussion in the first place, remember?\"

You started the first one, and you started this one. So here we go. Marc did a superb job with this. All I need to do is retrace his steps--slowly. Beginning this string, you wrote: \"I said before the race that I didn\'t know what result would confirm our figures or Ragozin\'s for the 9/15 race\"

Then what the hell are we doing? I\'m perfectly willing to follow this through, and I have no end of opinions, but I think it best if we begin with your answer to this question.

[HP]

From JB\'s review

\"The only horse who got a top racing on the rail on the backstretch, second turn and stretch was Thunderello. Among the horses who may have been compromised were Summer Colony, Santa Catarina, Whywhywhy, Dollar Bill, and Perfect Drift.\"

All of the horses named had other excuses besides dead rail. I loved Summer Colony, but I would accept your pre-race analysis that she may have been baked. Santa Catarina looked like a good bet to pair, but you could argue that she was a 2yo filly who just backed up off the top. Whywhywhy is a Mr. Greeley and a little suspect around two turns, also coming in off a pair of 4\'s, which are strong 2yo numbers. Dollar Bill ran a bunch of good ones (if memory serves about three or four 1-2\'s) and may have just thrown an off race. As for Perfect Drift, having seen him run like crap with my eminently logical money on his back before, his poor performance illustrates nothing to me.

Are these implausible explanations that have less currency than \"dead rail\"? Tough call, I would think, and I sure you gave it plenty of consideration. Thunderello was ripping, and that looked like evidence (big time) to the contrary to me. Sign me, curious (yellow). HP

[TGJB]

That\'s why I said \"may have been\". This one is not as clear-cut as last year, and I\'m going to follow these horses. It\'s also why I didn\'t make as big a stink about it.

[Marc At]

Quick question--

Was Volponi on the rail throughout the first run through the stretch? Charts indicated as much, but I don\'t remember either way...

[TGJB]

He was on the rail on the first turn, I don\'t know about before then--I\'ll try and remember to take a look tonight. As I think I said in my original post, the horses who seemed to be affected were those who spent significant time on the rail backstretch, stretch turn, stretch. This one is not clear cut-- but if I don\'t mark it, how do you deal with Whywhywhy, Perfect Drift etc. when they come back? I guess we could have an X? designation and watch the horses run back-- we\'ll see how it goes.

[Michael D.]

TGJB,
Not enough patience to read through this entire string, but........ Whywhywhy is bred to sprint, and was aided big time by the wet fast strip in his last Belmont win (as you know better than anyone), and Perfect Drift simply has stamina problems. His Derby was average at best, absolutely no reason why he couldn\'t have cut at least a length or two into WE\'s lead down the stretch (and his Belmont was even worse). Don\'t read too much into those two particular horses, they are both overrated (i.e. Www will never be a star going 9F, and PD will never be a star going 10F. Forget the X, just say don\'t bet those horses when they try distances beyond their means). BTW...... what is your early opinion on a Vindication vs Storm Flag Flying spring matchup. I usually lose interest in horse racing after the BC, but I think I might have to shop around for some Derby futures odds. I really think SFF might be something special.

[Michael D.]

HP,
Just read your post.... I guess I should have read the entire string first (I said the exact same thing you said). Do we actually agree on something?

[HP]

Michael,

I don\'t think I\'ve ever disagreed entirely with what you said, just your emphasis. All your points have some validity.

HP

[rbb54]

The steakhouse dinner was certainly marred by the vicious attack upon a member of the party by a \"midwest Pigeon\". The animal is resting comfortably after having undergone a painful series of shots required when one bites am member of the legal profession. Rumors abound that the duck may also have attended Drexel University and migrated to Arlington from his Summmer home in th Catskills only a week before the race.

Starine was a great call and helped to salvage and otherwise mediocre day at the window. SFF was impressive and is only limited by her mental state becouse she did it with ease.

[TGJB]

It\'s an in joke, folks, and you had to be there. Ray, myself and others were leaving the retaurant the night before the BC when Joe Friedberg, friend, lawyer, and author of the letter to Ragozin\'s office, decided to try to pet a duck in the parking lot. Friedberg got the pain, but we got the stitches.

[backstretch]

I am trying to retrieve the Thorograph BC
sheets which you mentioned are available on-line. Despite my efforts I am unable to
download this data shown as the Race of the
Week. I show a 39 per cent transfer and can get no further.  Please advise.