huh? are you serious? I thinking you're dreaming.
Can you explain what set-up so well in RTR's races, so much so that the races were hers before they started? How is 5wide on both turns a great set-up?

I hear she's amazing. So i'm expecting her to run 5th.

I may be nuts but I like swift temper to hit the board or at least the super

looks like wet track today. think i'll change my picks abit.
i'll use High Again, won at the distance and on a wet track. Swift Temper 4th at the distance and won on a wet track.
i'll use them with Octave and Cash Included.

pace collapsed inside her and horses weren't very talented.

I can appreciate the effort to beat a big favorite, but the reality is that this filly lays over the field and will only lose if Gomez blows it.

More top-notch advice from yours truly.

I think Garrett Gomez was riding a very good horse and did a very good job keeping her out of trouble while not losing ground. Very well done all the way around.

And I would have not have bet her either. Do the math. When approximately 33% of the horses at that price win, and you got a big field on a muddy track. No way.

I've always said that I believe it's better to have $100 on a 2/5 horse that wins than it is to be on a 7/1 shot that loses. Maybe that's just me though.

Funny that Rags won this race easier than she won her races in CA. She should have been in the Derby. Been saying that for two months now. Too bad.

True. Its just that people seem to forget that 2-5 that never broke well and lost. Its a long haul proposition. If the favorite at most race tracks wins 30% of the time... and the favorite averages a bit above even odds... you will find yourself quickly in the hole.

...and so was that exacta! :mad: same here DaHoss...didn't have it either :(

umm, you might want to get some better pace information, and learn to watch races a little better. The pace was normal in those CA races. Also it wasn't so much that the other horses weren't talented, they just weren't nearly as talented as RTR. Hopefully you caught todays race because I think it should leave no doubt in your mind.

You said RTR wouldn't dominate, she crushed the field.
You said Cotton Blossom would run huge, she staggered home ninth.

i WAS playing to beat rags. i played 2-4-8-14 exbx. at the VERY LAST minute, i played ex 11w/2-4-8-14. saved me in the 10th race.

6th and 10th race ex's were the only two i cashed all day.

Sure did, very nice run by the winner. My selections didn't pan out. Oh well. Congrats

Rags may run in the Belmont
 

Here's the scoop -- read all the way down:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/84695.html

Now tell me that Pletcher doesn't think that maybe he should have run her in the Derby. He may not admit it publicly . . .

Yeah, I know . . . Beyer 110 for Street Sense and 104 for Rags. Tell me when you can make money betting 6 point Beyer differences Or betting Beyer figures at all. Bet any Beyer figure you want . . . last highest . . . highest lifetime . . . you name it and it is a sure way to the soup line.

Rags cooked a 1:49 and change in serious slop. Finished in 12.19. Didn't have a dream rail trip on a fast track.

That's a running machine.

I hope she runs in the Belmont.

I hope she does too and unless something happens in a workout between now and then, we get our wish in 5 weeks. Todd and Mike are playing it coy, this horse is shipping to Belmont Sunday to begin preparation.

Belmont a bad place to run a filly first time against the boys...in the entire history of the race, only two fillies have won...Ruthless in the very first running at Jerome Park in 1867 and Tanya in 1905 when the race was run at 10 furlongs! Strange place to try her...is Pletcher getting desperate?

She's got the best 12-furlong pedigree of any of his 3-year-olds and may be faster than any of them too. If that's the case, why not send her?

Coolmore doesn't need Street Cry getting a Triple Crown winner in his first crop.

Spoiler time.

I wouldn't be surprised if the entire American arm of Coolmore shows up.


I am repeating this information, by the way. Heard it somewhere else

She's no Tanya imo!

I agree. It is actually a "sporting" move. She has nothing to lose. Why not?

I admit, she's got a nice distance pedigree...mom produced Jazil and top is good with AP Indy but no filly has ever won the Belmont at 12 furlongs...OK, Ruthless won at 13f in the first running but barely and against only 3 others, quality unknown. If I had a top filly, I'd wait until fall to try the boys. Just my preference. A lot to lose and little to gain by running her in the Belmont imo!

Street Sense will smoke her in the Belmont

A lot to lose and little to gain? Are you kidding me? She could significantly improve her broodmare value, could get Pletcher a TC win with a filly, could REALLY cement the Eclipse.. What the hell is there to lose?

So you would wait until the boys matured and got better before you took them on? The gap gets larger as the horses get older.

What does she have to lose by running in the Belmont?

Her broodmare value is moot because there is only one guy who could afford her now other than her current owners and there is zero chance that Tabor and co. would let him have her.

But it would be a historic win if she won

I can understand why Pletcher may be considering it though, her PF was better than Street Sense's (as I noted in the Ky Oaks thread), in fact...her's was the best in the Oaks since 1999 when Roman started the calculations:
Rags...-64
Lemons Forever...-36
Summerly...-30
Ashado...-59
Bird Town...-46
Farda Amiga...-49
Flute...-62
Secret Status...-51
Silverbulletday...-52
Still, a rough place to take on the colts!

Yeah, broodmare value is rather moot cause of her ownership...what to lose? When you have a champion, the last thing you want is a bad beating! A filly can beat the boys, Lady's Secret and others proved that, but if it was my horse...I'd pick a better spot! True, if she wins, she makes history but it's a huge gamble imo!

Somerfrost, Todd knows he has one horse, okay maybe 2 horses he will have to run lights out to beat- SS and Curlin. Neither have run a race that is miles above Rags. SS seems to only have run HUGE at Churchill. Curlin is still a work in progress. Why not try her now and avoid horses like Invasor and Premium Tap? Her pedigree screams yes and she barely broke a sweat in what was merely a public workout. The time is now and I think Todd is going to be grinning after this race with the Derby a mere bad memory.

I think that this is a pretty weak group of colts and very few have breeding that suggests that they will relish the distance. She has enough speed to get the right trip and will catch the best colts coming off of 2 hard efforts and coming back on short rest. If she loses then she can resume beating up on fillies in the Test/Alabama. Plus Pletcher will make his other owners happy by getting Octave a grade 1 win in the Acorn or Mother Goose without having to mess with Rags.

Exactly Canon, but Todd wont run her in the Test, too short for her. Her only race this summer after the Belmont will be the Alabama. Then she runs once at Belmont, most likely against the fillies, then its on to Monmouth for the BC, again most likely in the filly & mare race.

Somer stop being such a wuss. It seems racing can't make anyone happy. If horses dodge one another, we cry about not getting to see the matchups we want. Then ,if someone does something "sporting" (good word for it Cannon)you're already calling them dumb for trying.

She can clearly beat the fillies without a top effort. Racing doesn't need another filly who picks her spots to retire with a nearly pristine record (Azeri, Ashado, etc), they need something over the top. A big G1 win by a filly over males would be a huge boost to the sport. Either way, if she runs, I'll actually be rooting for Pletcher. I can't believe I just said that.

Exactly...Silverbulletday was considered equal to or superior to the 3yo colts, she tried the 1999 Belmont went off at 5-1 and finished a tired 7th! She had a good turn of speed and set the pace without being challenged...

Wonder if that what the owners of Ruffian were thinking in her match race with Foolish pleasure?

That has nothing to do with how RTR might run.

If you have a filly and want to try and tackle the colts -- the sooner the better, before the boys mature. I think broodmare value here is completely irrelevant -- she is not for sale, will never be, and her foal will not be for sale. Never say never, but the only thing that will change that is a complete crash of Coolmore, or if they look to take on outside partners, money, etc. and decide to put something through the ring. They wouldn't have to do that, but I guess they could.

As far as her pedigree "suggests" and her being by a Belmont winner, out of a mare who also produced a Belmont winner -- well, I forget the specifics, but two relatively famous quotes stick out in my mind. First, was the one that said "Mrs. Dempsey had nine sons and only one was a boxer" or something like that, LOL. Maybe it was Jack Johnson, I don't remember. And the second one was from my least favorite fighter Mike Tyson" -- he said "everyone has a plan, until they get hit"

Sure, they have nothing to lose, but that doesn't mean she's gonna win or even be competitive.

Eric