And there goes my other future bet.

That went awhile ago.

D. Wayne is in!?

The takeout rate for the Derby has been slightly lowered.

it's easier to toss D. Wayne then Larry L.

-bt-

i figured all that about t'berg, but appreciated him mentioning about other horses running styles, and how they will most likely suffer with his entry. looking at off the pace horses, rather than those who like to be on or near the front. several good horses will be compromised because of this horse running, it'll affect more than just trinniberg.

You had Songandaprayer set the Derby record for a 1/2 at 44.86. Of the four horses at the front at the half none finished better than 11th. Congaree in 5th at the half hung in there to finish 3rd. When Hal's Hope ran for glory he was in the lead at the half in 45.99. Of the 4 horses on the lead at the half only More Than Ready finished 4th. The other 3 could do no better than 11th. So I guess you need to keep your best early pace horse in the mix with the closers when there is a hot early pace, as there usually is.

War Emblem won on the lead in his KD in a 1/2 in 47.04.

Folks keep talking about pace - the median opening half since 1970 is around 46 and 2/5. As I mentioned the other day, only twice in that time frame has the half gone slower than 48. Nothing else to add other than the chances of the opening half being anything but quick seem to be relatively slim when the race is looked at from a historical perspective.

So I know I sound like I'm beating a dead horse here - no pun intended - but is Done Talking invisible when he hits the track the last couple of mornings? Aside from Steve's one line of yesterday, I haven't seen anybody - not Mike Welsch in his clocker reports - mention the horse even once. I get that he's an exceptionally long shot to win the race, but with all the mentions of Trinniberg and Liaison and other potential tosses, one would think someone somewhere would have some opinion on the horse when he's been on the grounds for two days now.

he jogged today i think..and im using him.his goham was good and hes gonna get some pace to run at..

His Remsen was good you mean. His Gotham was decidedly not good, but he also came out of the race with colitis.

How many jockeys have pulled off the oaks derby double?

Think Castellano has a solid chance.

The last was Borel in 2009. I don't know off the top of my head how many did so before that.

The Blood-Horse Facebook page has a bunch of photos of him. :o

yes sorry..hes either really slow or a must use..

How did Lava Man look?

You can see him on faceplant :o
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

Where can I read this? Thx in advance for the help.

thanks sunday...i know that link was in a thread somewhere in the paddock!

Steve - seeing lots of speculation this morning on Creative Cause. Anything to add for the masses?

Cause for concern?

Sure. I thing I heard on ATR that he tore of a shoe and a little piece if his hoof with it. He did walk and school in the paddock yesterday and is expected to do do today too. Any loss of training thisweek would have to be at least a little disconcerting at this point IMO?

when i read the b'horse article about his work on monday, they said he'd lost a shoe on the flight. didn't keep him from having what his trainer said was a good work, and his last serious training before the race.
so, has he lost another shoe? i know i read that one of the horses had injured a hoof when tearing off a shoe, but that wasn't creative cause. it was another derby horse but they were talking about his last race, not something recent or something in training.

Maybe some one can clarify this, i was on the phone with work so I may not have been Creative Cause with the shoe(hoof) issue.

it was mark valeski:


Jones addressed the lost left-front shoe that may have impaired Mark Valeski in the Louisiana Derby, where he finished second behind $220 shocker Hero of Order. The shoe most likely came off when the colt was coming on to the track when Mark Valeski stumbled slightly.

It also could have been tossed right out of the gate, when he bumped with stablemate Mr. Bowling. The colt ran all with only three shoes and also injured one of his hind feet in the Louisiana Derby.
“Apparently my horse on the inside (Mr. Bowling) hit him leaving the gate,” Jones said. “They kind of got tangled up and he tore the bulb off his back foot. It just wasn’t meant to be that day. As much stuff as we had that didn’t go right and with a $220 horse that was just divine intervention, we have to throw that one out. What all happened that day can’t happen twice.

“He got clipped from behind--by our other horse, I’m sure--but we’re good now. We’ve got the bulb all healed up and we did have to get a special shoe to make sure the dirt didn’t hit him while he was training, to press the dirt down where it couldn’t get up and it could heal, and it has. He’s just getting better all the time.”


just had to take a few minutes to remember which horse, i'd been reading about so many lately!