i agree.

but i do wish they would make a minimum number of points necessary to get in the gate. if you have a horse win a prep worth enough points, they can skip further races and still glide into the gate on derby day.

I don't believe they would do it, but in a points system, I'd lower the number of points awarded for any one race, thereby almost requiring you to WIN a traditional March/April G1 route or hit the board in multiple events.

whether by demanding a threshold, or a number of starts, or changing the awarded points, i just wish they'd find a way to get them to race these horses more. of course, a rise in purses might help...

The Derby points system "fixed" an issue that didnt exist.
Fact is with all the big point races the last 60 or so days the trend of lighter campaigns will not change. Horses will start later and later because winning the traditional 2 year old and early season preps are pretty meaningless.

You have to remember that each potential horse is owned for the most part by different people, all following the same script often laid out by trainers who are up to their eyes in contenders.

Just wait till some unraced at 2 horse wins

Dont forget that many of the power trainers subscribe to the theory that horses shouldnt run that often and they only have so many races in them. Of course a primary reason they feel this way is it helps them get their vast amount of horses in the same conditions raced as opposed to actually believing that horses cant race every month or 9 times a year.

you've hit it right on with this. too few trainers with the top horses, and they have to find a way to not tick off an owner by having one of the other horses in the barn beat their horse and knock him out of contention. there's something wrong when one trainer is saddling 1/4th of the derby field.

Maybe they should vote for derby entrants? Then you would never be guaranteed a spot to coast from...

I liked it better when they ran crap races like this as exhibitions with no betting. You see a lot of those scanning the book Champions.

Ill be hung up at work tomorrow, so I wont be betting the #1.
Now I hope Honor Code blows him off the racetrack.

Will the horse on the rail be more than 6:5?

I don't see how he could. It is a 2 and a quarter horse race. There is zero chance any of the three that have a sliver of a chance will offer value.

What will the will-pay be on a 4-2 exacta?

What? You mean Ta Bueno isn't really going to be 8/1 and they're only going to bet the other 3??? Nooooooooo

WOW . That was impressive - New track record

It took a new track record to beat HC

I don't think there was a gold rail or speed bias on FOY day. The horses that won on the rail were supposed to win except this guy, and he just validated the performance. I hope they don't rush him to Derby because he looks like he's got a big future.

He didn't run particularly well, but he did not have to today. April 5th at Aqueduct will be his day. I think this race sets him up perfectly for the Wood. I suspected going in that Social Inclusion was pretty good, he is pretty good. But he is also dressed up now because he just got a cupcake no pressure trip.

111 BSF for Social Inclusion per Privman on Twitter.

Is social inclusion triple crown nominated?

Yes