I think you're right, he doesn't have a burst of speed that he can rely on, no acceleration. He just cruises along. I wanted to see something different from him this week and its just not there.

Plus he runs goofy in the stretch.

Hes an Albert the Great, whoever can sell someone an Albert the Great as a Derby winner/horse should be in prison

Yeah, you guys are all right. Tagg should give up on this horse immediately for losing that race, it's not like Tagg ever won the Derby with a horse that lost all his Derby preps as a 3 year old...oh wait, well, I guess that proves just how important it really is to win all your Derby preps.

(I have heard rumors that Nobiz is always swearing under his breath how much he hates it that Albert the Great is his father!! that's why he lugs...he's just thinking about his damn daddy holding him back!)

so in 5 lifetime starts...4 of them in stakes...a grade 1, 2 grade 2s and a grade 3, he has 3 wins....has never been out of the money and his two losses are by 3/4 of a length and 1/2 length. Yeah...a waste of time that horse.

Good one!

Eric

I don't know who you are referring to when you say "you guys." I certainly wouldn't say this horse has no shot to be a factor in the classics this May/June. He is a talented colt and Tagg is an excellent trainer.
Other than The Bid's foolish call for prison terms, I don't see a lot of posts on this thread saying that the colt is "a waste of time." He is a solid colt who could improve. Hell I picked him to win yesterday, and I very well might pick him in his next start too.

LMFAO... you sound like Joel. :p

Well, Albert the Great was a G1 and a G2 winner at 10f, and he is by a Derby winner himself.
He may not exactly be A.P. Indy as a sire, but I don't see how being by Albert the Great automatically excludes you from being a Deby horse.
If Buckaroo can sire a Derby winner, isn't it possible that Albert the Great may as well?

Could all this be...POINTGIVEN1985 - REVENGE!!!

NoBiz last 100 yards
 

I just happened to catch a replay earlier today, and while I certainly could be wrong, it seemed to me that NoBiz started running again when he saw Scat Daddy passing him on the outside. Take a look at the last 100 yards, while it appeared he was badly beaten late stretch, he only lost by about 1/2 a length. This is just an observation, it may have been an optical illusion.

I saw the same thing while we were standing at the rail.

Stormello was as game as they come in this race. Every time a horse came up to him he stuck his neck out and ran harder. Stormello had a 15 1/2 hour flight that he had to deal with and ran a monster race, if he can find some way to move forward off that race I think he can beat that same field. I saw some horse that were super at 2 and they looked average yesterday. We are all still looking for this years Barbaro.

Stormello is very headstrong but he is a fighter. We had not found Barbaro until Barbaro won the Derby... its always like that in this game. Hindsight rules.

And I wonder what this does to Nobiz in the Vegas futures. Maybe it will be worth a look since Tagg is sounding very unsure. I personally think the horse is too talented not to take a chance if things look to good from a risk perspective. As many times as he had to change pace in that race and still was right there... extremely talented.

And I will continue to take the weather into account. It was very hot. None of these horses have proven they can run well in 84 degrees with humidity. These are hardly ideal conditions for any large animal to perform extraordinary athletic feats. I will specifically use Corinthian as an example. He was as good as he can be behaviorally, and when the race was underway, it went perfectly for him. And he was a dead horse at the end. Exhausted nothing left. The track I frequent is very hot and I have never seen a horse getting hosed off before entering the winners circle like Corinthian. Maybe they do that at Gulfstream. Corinthian was sucking the water right out of the hose in between baths on the track.

Indeed.

yea he did he still needs to learn how to change leads also. i didn't see him change leads if he did i missed it.
will be a good horse when he grows up some more.

He ducked, veered, whatever you want to call it and more than once. He seemed to looking around and not really in the bridle, on the bit, whatever you want to call it. I am not a trainer so I will not venture to say it's a soundness, health, etc. issue as opposed to a "green" or immaturity issue. However, several people I know, and I respect their opinion, have said that he has never appeared to be unsound or have a problem. That doesn't mean he doesn't.

Be that as it may, from just watching the race -- when he did get collared, and passed, as much as he wasn't straight, he seemed to be game and fighting -- and once he got straightened out, he seemed like he really got into the bridle, dug in, and came back on. I saw more than enough to not throw him out of the "contender" category.


Eric

Agreed
;)

How about his work...
 

Does anyone think his fairly quick work 2 days before took anything out of him? 4F @ .47.60

I asked the same thing, but I hear that he's quite the hothead and tears down the barn if he's not out on the track. :) (Nobiz that is.)

Its hard to tell for sure, but it looks like he may not have changed leads until deep stretch, way too late. When he did switch leads he did start to surge with the same pace as the winner. The talent is there and if he ever gets this racing thing figured out he's going to be tough. Its anybodies guess when that might happen.

To me it looked like he ran up and bumped the ass of The gold, then lost momentum, then re gained some late.

It wouldn't be the first time Tagg worked a horse too fast too close to a big race..