a better question is which show will get the better rating, taped kids playing scrable or horse racing, I know which one is odds on.

Crossing the Line is your BC Mile winner. He's going to have to beat Silver Tree to do it but he'll get the job done. What an explosive turn of foot this guy has.

i was just pointing out that if he thinks it's unsafe, he doesn't think it's too unsafe to run over with ap excellent. as for the others, it's only mid-august. maybe his babies aren't ready yet? what is his usual mode of operation at this time of year with them?

and he didn't say tiago didn't handle it, he said another of his came back tired. i think it has more to do with not wanting to run tiago today against this field, not on that track. especially when it seems the track is more conducive to tiagos running style.
or maybe he thinks he would be so 'tired' after an effort today that he couldn't get him ready for the bc in a couple months.:rolleyes: seems to be the prevailing thought process these days regarding three year olds...

he looked fantastic. didn't aragorn win this race last year on his way to a runner up effort in the bc mile?

big odds
 

Looks like a wide open betting affair in the Pacific Classic. I like Arson Squad to run in the top 3. Was blocked down the stretch in the San Diego. Needs a clean trip here today. Awesome Gem should put in a big run as well.

Agreed Crossing the LIne, 2nd straight brilliant finish.

go lava man.

I know what he said to be nice to del mar but I dont know what else to say, I have it on good info the horse is sketchy at best on the surface after his last few works. that being said I thought they should run and it would add to his foundation and he is the most talented horse in this field excluding lava man.

He usually wins a few baby races every season at del mar and gears up like everyone else.

either this one or the eddie read.

they really have a nice set of mile specific races on socal for horses who specialize in that

Kilroe
Shoemaker
DMBC Mile
Oak Tree Mile

so...is it the track or the horse? is it easier to point the finger at del mar right now, after what baffert and zayat had to say? probably beats suggesting tiago isn't at his best i suppose.
at any rate, a shame he won't run.

no, the horse can run and trained "ok" but nothing like he did at hollywood park, and the horse can run a bit.

Anyone that still believes that this stuff is not the end of California racing is lying to themselves. Student FREAKIN Council wins the race. Lava Man was tracking a 1:14.81 for 6f.....I don't care how many steps he's lost, he's good enough to do that and still win.......and he was DONE at the top of the lane. They went 2:07.29 U've got to be kidding me. This is NOT horse racing anymore.

howd you like the 47.2 half mile for the sprint stakes?

or how about 6f in 111 4/5ths when the two year old filly went 112 the race before!

Horse Racing is all about betting. Whats wrong with even money horses losing. I like longshots, didn't play Student Council. The good handicapper will thrown horses like Student Council on Breeders Cup Classic Day and score again. Probably not me, but the potential is there.

i think real handicappers will toss that horse in a second in any race with real talent, of which that one was. Then again I bet a few dollars on the horse so who is complaining.

There is a difference between a live longshot and a hopeless one. Anyone that is or wants to believe they are a good handicapper will start off their handicapping by immediately tossing Student Council if he's in the Classic field. It's not about an even money horse losing. It's about much more than that.

i agree completely with what randy moss said--top three finishers today would be 30-1 come monmouth.

I don't think this stuff is gunna end Cali.Racing, but I don't see why anybody would use it instead of cushion track.What was gunna kill Cali. racing was the lack of horses ready to run in races.

good handicappers would also start handicapping the BC classic by crossing off Lava Man, and he was even money in this race.

Most good ones did just that when he was in the BC. Most of those same ones would not do that if the BC was in California (pre junk-tracks).

2:07?! :eek:

That's ridiculous.

And it's not the surface - I had a look at some races run over the same distance on Polytrack in the UK, and the Winter Derby Trial this year was run in 2:01.79.

I'm not sure what they're doing wrong with US Polytrack, but I hope they fix it soon. 2:07. Seriously.

John Shirreffs, not comfortable running Tiago on the Del Mar Polytrack, has decided to scratch the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) and Swaps (gr. II) winner from the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic (gr. I).
“After watching my colt, Gentle Romeo, run on Wednesday, I decided I didn’t want to subject a 3-year-old to this kind of track,” Shirreffs said. “They went a mile and a sixteenth in 1:48 2/5, and although he had worked well over the track, it’s a totally different track in the afternoon, and he came back so tired after running up the track we thought he had tied up. But he was just muscle sore from struggling over that track. The mornings are fine, but later on, the temperature plays havoc with the track. When I saw the track hadn't changed through Friday's races, I decided to scratch.

“I don’t mind if the track is slow, but the races aren’t evenly paced. I know he comes from off the pace, which would work to his advantage, but there are too many unknown factors to take a chance with a 3-year-old. There is just too much we don’t know about the track. They did everything with the best of intentions, but it hasn’t played out too well. He’s run every month, so there’s no reason why we can’t miss one race. I have no definite plans. The Travers (nominations) is closed, so we’ll look for something else.”

Shirreffs still has the 4-year-old A. P. Xcellent as one of the contenders in the Pacific Classic, which now will go with 12 starters.