Aside from the dq, how did Buffum look? I missed the race....the chart seemed to indicate that he struggled..that he did not look nearly as good as in his last. Thanks.

NYRA.com has free replays of all races that they run.

But the chart was right, he looked a lot better last time than he did today.

Thanks! I wonder if he is more of a sprinter than a miler.....

Which speaks directly to the question raised as to why not a more ambitious spot after the big effort last time.

Where would you have run him? I thought this spot was fine assuming they wanted to stretch him out....though he did break his maiden at a mile. Rick Metee always sounds very measured and nor overly enthusiastic when talking about Buffum. It sounds like Jerkens might want to keep Bold Warrior sprinting as well despite his pedigree

The only thing that raced proved clearly was that David Cohen should be riding at Fairplex.

I don't care where they run Buffum. The question/issue was that if he had exited the Saratoga race suitably, you would think the next step would have been something more ambitious.

:tro:

Steve,
great call in the 5th at Belmont. Didn't get any of that.
keep up the GREAT work.
tb

Um I did not say you cared or should and I understood your point very well even though I do not agree...Obviously they wanted to stretch him out. Actually, their initial plan was to run him in a stakes at Parx against older PA bred. I can not think of a spot they could have run him in instead...the King s Bishop was never an option, and rightly so

I'm going to put this as mildly as I can because I know how sensitive you are when it comes to anything AP Indy related. You are talking about stretching him out. He romped going 7 furlongs last time. If they were trying to stretch him out at this point in his career, don't you think they would have tried to stretch him out a little further than a mile?

What are they waiting for? Granted, Cohen did him no favors and the race was unbettable but the fact they chose this spot over races like the Smarty Jones at Parx last weekend or the Super Derby yesterday should have spoke volumes.

He was best today, but it's tough to get too excited about him going forward. Especially because it's 1/9 they take him back to Dubai this winter and totally ruin him.

See Hossy's response. If there was any confidence he was anything special, they would have sought black type. That they used this mundane spot as next for him said a lot, and that was the point I raised in the analysis. Actually, why we should even have an interest in how they campaign their horses seems an exersize in futility. They operate blind without a cane.

You make good points...and as I mentioned, Rick Metee 's comments about him prior to the race were not exactly enthusiastic. Based on this race I would think that he wouldn't go to Dubai.....he is sure not a World Cup horse.

Andy basically said the same thing about Godolphin in his NYRA chat. Unfortunately, upon thinking about it, I agree with you