I think only 2 people in the world bet Union Rags...the owner and the original poster of his thread. The owner has thier sob story of selling the horse and buying it back at a higher price (rich peoples problems) because she believed in him. Nobody believed this poster on picking the favorite to win the Belmont Stakes. I see a Disney movie in the works.

I picked Rags a 3 weeks ago. I wish Ill Have Snother ran today so I would have gotten a square price on Rags.

not a chance, I'll Have Another would have dusted that field.

Amen to that. He would have toyed with them.

Coach,

What did you think of the way Leparoux was trying to hold Atigun back early? Like It seemed he had to pull up on him a couple of times early in the race. Good? Bad? Irrelevant to the result?

Eh I can't complain really. He probably moved him a half furlong early but there's really no excuses. He had every opportunity to pass them.

It's just I can't get a righteous score. I get great efforts but it's usually a punk b.itch trip horse like Union Rags to ruin my day.

Sorry but that horse can beat me 10 more times. Race of his life today.

Today's Belmont proved that regardless of breeding all horses can get 1 1/2 if the race goes slow enough. 2.30.2 was not exactly track record time.

Since 1950 been only 9 Belmonts that have gone slower than 2.30.

Union Rags is still slow. . . 96 Beyer

Surprised no European horses dont take a stab at this race.

Sounds...... generous?

When you were seeing a horse under an iron-grip, were you really surprised to see that it was Leparoux in the irons?

it seemed the horses were all moving in slow mo much of the time. didn't need to hear the fractions to know smith was trying to lull them all early. but then late they all still seemed to be barely moving.
with iha being done, i don't think rags is now the top horse in the crop-i'd have to believe it's bodemeister, and many thought he was already.

Speaking of Bodemeister, any news as to whether he will stay out west this summer (Del Mar) or come back east and run at Saratoga?

He'll run 2nd somewhere. Mike will help the winner again. Wouldn't want to actually race ride. Idiots might scold him for puttiing a horse in the rail. Come on through, bruh.

Interviewed on one of the two racing channels the owner mentioned the Haskell.

Bad, IMO. Had to take a little something out of the horse.

I think Bafferts holding aces here. Paynter is going to be REALLY GOOD. This was asking a lot, very soon from him. I know the race came back slow, but it like I said it was a lot. The horse won at 5.5f in Feb to break his maiden. If I was asked right now I would say the top 3 horses right now in this crop are Bode, Paynter and Rags... In that order.

Union Rags benefited from an absolute prfect trip and a gift wrapped rail to get up. I was much more impressed with Paynter, Atigun and Trinniberg yesterday. I look forward betting against Union Rags next ime he runs.

What's Baffert do, he has 2 very good horses with identical running styles? I hope they both stay healthy and in training, makes me think that it could be a very interesting summer.

The next race UR will win will be one that a 95 BSF will be enough....probably some GR II somewhere

one east, one west? or one in the dandy, one in the haskell...and then take it from there.

“He’ll go back home, freshen up, and we’ll look to bring him back somewhere on the East coast,” said Baffert. “Maybe the Jim Dandy [Grade 2, July 28] – we’re shooting for the Travers with him. We have [Derby and Preakness runner-up] Bodemeister for the Haskell.”

Thanks guys.

It'll be interesting to see how he manages these 2 as they both have similar styles.

Bodemeister:
1st Haskell
3rd Travers
2nd Goodwood
8th BC Classic
retired

Paynter:
4th Jim Dandy
2nd Indiana Derby
5th BC Dirt Mile
7th Malibu
1st Allowance
6th Santa Anita Hcp
3rd Tokyo City
sent to Steve Asmussen

I dunno -- that's kind of harsh on both accounts...especially with Bodemeister considering he has a big edge on the rest of the 3yo crop and he fits very well with the older horses.

Shackleford will be a huge thorn in Bode's side though -- if he goes Classic instead of Dirt Mile.

See any optimism for Fed Biz?

Numbers aside (I know, pretty presumptive), both horses have conveniently lossed all their big dances. Bodemeister's one important win was at Oaklawn, where Baffert can win with even a horse like Castaway. Paynter failed in the lowly Derby Trial (albeit on an off-track). He probably should have won the Belmont by open lengths with the setup he got. He's Commendable to Bodemeister's High Yield.

Also a factor is the lack of 2yo racing coupled with aggressive campaigns this spring as 3yos. The accumulated wear-and-tear could blunt their future prospects. It would be huge if they both had the intestinal fortitude of Congaree, but even he went off form at 3 and 4. And unlike him, both colts have "stallion" pedigrees, so any bump in the road would give convenient cause to retire them to stud.

Fed Biz (2013):
1st Allowance
1st Santana Mile
1st Oaklawn Hcp
1st Californian
4th Hollywood Gold Cup
7th Pacific Classic
retired

I kind of laughed.

the only difference I think is that one of these two horses is taking the Prayer for Relief cash-grab route. It's far more likely to be Paynter I think, so I wouldn't be surprised if he goes WV Derby-Super Derby-Indiana Derby-BCC-Clark.

Nothing wrong with cash unless you are training show horses and want those ribbons.

As talented as Bode is, I'd think Shack would gut him when (if?) they got eye to eye.

I like Fed Biz quite a bit, handled correctly the horse has a great future IMO.