intercontinental deserved her win last year -- crafty ride, stole away with it -- fair enough.

but do you really think she would have held ouija board off for another eighth of a mile had the BC been anywhere but Belmont Park?

Ouija Board would have been best that day too if the race were at 1 3/8 miles. Could have made a huge difference.

Lord Derby is a cool name. Could be the name of a rapper.

I am thinking Lord Terror of Tampa Bay....

yeah....I like the sound of that:D

Lord Lezcano... haha. :D

LOL...I think I have hit the point of delusion....if i wasn't already there.:o

from what I understand,
the race is supposed to be run at 10f like it was at Belmont.
thats what they ran it at when Starine won at Arlington in 2002 and when Islington won at Santa Anita in 2003.
its only run at 11f when tracks like Lone Star and CD are the host tracks and the configuration does not allow for a 10f turf race.

I dont believe distance had anything to do with IC's win in 2005.
like Kasept and everyone points out, PACE was the main reason for IC's dominance over that field.
but that does not change my point.
IC still beat her.
HC won the BCT in 2002 with a slow pace to run at.
it can be done.
OB did not do it in 2005.

Im not hating on her, Im just saying she could be beaten.
so with that in mind, i hope ppl dont dismiss the great year that WAW had while getting beat one time on the turf.
b/c as The Board showed us in 2005, a turf mare can be great and still lose the BCFMT in the same year.



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Thing is, Ouija Board had plenty of excuses and still ran a closing second in '05. Wait a While had absolutely no excuse and ran a tiring fourth..

excuses?
she is a closer who lost to a horse who stole the race on the front end.
happens every day(I know you know this ateam).

call it an excuse if you want.



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Not just that.

She broke from an impossible post, had an abbreviated campaign full of setbacks, and was racing at a distance not ideal for her.

What possible excuse did Wait a While have except that she wasn't good enough?

a distance not ideal for her?
well, we dont card BC races to suit the strengths of individual horses.
if that were the case, then you can use the 11f running of this race as an excuse for WAW(it would be totally bogus, but its the same argument).

besides, The Board ran just fine at 10f on numerous occassions.
I dont buy the post position thing.
maybe if its a 8f turf race at Belmont where they basically start the race on a turn I would see your point.
but we are talking a 10f race on the inner turf course.


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Anything outside the 8-hole on the inner turf at BEL is usually death. I don't see how you can possibly say drawing 13 isn't a substantial disadvantage. And the difference is we know Ouija Board is better the further they go. Did we know that about Wait a While? So that's her excuse, now? That she tops out at ten furlongs? I think she just ran into much better horses.

No knock on Wait A While but she waded into the deep end of the pool last week and discovered that she is not quite ready for that level. Anyone that is looking for some kind of excuse other than that is fooling themselves.

Ill disagree and bet her again in just about any circumstance in the future.
just me though.

and Ateam,
I rewatched the 2005 BCFMT.
dont see how The Board breaking from, say the 7 hole, gets her to IC.


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