No, I agree with you to a large extent....his performance will be overrated.

While beating a very overmatched field on paper, He got a tremendous setup pace-wise, saved all the ground on a day when the rail was arguably the place to be, and though he had all that trouble on the far turn---it was not like he had to run all that fast through the final furlong to win.

Thirty minutes later, in a race run at the same distance, a 108/1 shot 3yo, who never had run a Beyer higher than 72 in his career, pressed the pace the entire way, and stayed on to win. The final furlong of that race was run in marginally faster time than the final 1/8th of the Invasor race.

As far as the ride by Kent D. on A.P. Arrow, I've seen him do that to many times, to many odds-on favorites trying to come inside of him....

He caused his own horse to be put in a bad spot by going apeshit at the 3/8ths when Invasor passed him.

I'm sorry, are you the only one who actually objectively watches races here?

Had Invasor been wide like he should have been, he would have won by 10 and I doubt Jara would have ever moved. That wasnt a good field, Invasor is a special horse.

He was simply too much horse for anything in there. He has a date with Destiny in Dubai.

IMO, he was going apeshit that early to keep Invasor in.

Maybe but who knows what goes on in that guys mind

watch the headon

apply directly to the forehead...

I did....which only confirms what you see on the pan shot.

It's more telling on the pan shot, by the time they straighten away through the lane, the trouble had occured and Ap Arrow is tipped out. The head-on doesn't capture it as well.

the race reminded me of a story my uncle liked to tell.

he asked a friend if horse X fell down who would win
he said horse X because he'll get back up and beat these bums.

I think Jara has some explaining to do. Invasor could have went to the outside rail got a hot dog and a coke and still beat these horses without the the theatrics

Invasor could have been injured or worse

Not that we haven't seen this move from Kent many times before....

But, You'll notice him take a look behind him twice down the backstretch, and you'll notice him go to an all-out ride when Invasor gets about 1 1/4 lengths from him, while inside of him.

He didn't wait for Invasor to come to his horse.

To Desormeaux's credit, he rode over 800 mounts last year, and those mounts produced an 8% profit on the betting dollar. He was the only major circuit rider, who's mounts showed a flat bet profit on the betting dollar, in the year 2006.

He achieved that stat by scoring several big upsets throughout the year. There is no offical tally for total bonehead rides in 2006...but, he might top that as well if there was one. He tries to do more race-riding than just about everyone else--and he shakes things up in races as much as anyone.

DrugS, maybe Kent didn't give up his position quick enough for your liking.

However, he really rode that part of the race as well as he could. If he moves out when you want him to, he would be force to go around Chatain and Hesanoldsalt (and they entered the stretch 5 and 6, I believe).

By waiting, he enters INSIDE of Chatain but is still skunked as Hesanoldsalt decides to move in and he has to wait for a split second and go around that one. If he doesn't have to wait and angle out, if he gets a straight and clear run, he's easily 2nd.

So your premise is that getting stopped for a nanosecond and winning by 2 lengths,with, essentially a suck up rail trip throughout, equates to going 6 on the turn, 7 entering and winning going away?

Makes sense to me.

This is not to say he wasn't the best horse in the race. But, he's not as good as everyone thinks and the field basically sucked; and he certainly didn't have anywhere near the trouble raised here.

Oh, I'm not saying he rode a bad race....not at all.

In fact, an arguement could be that he rode a tremendous race...albeit a very, very, very agressive one........

Hes the real deal. You dont see acceleration from horses like that every weekend. Hes a special one and I am finally convinced. Too bad I couldnt cash as a result but I do know how to identify a truly wonderful horse and he is one.

all I have to say is, Thank You Shadwell for keeping this horse in training! :)

God I just watched the race again, that horse lost at least 7 lengths. Still won by 2

Its comical to say he didnt run that good of a race

The field was bad, but you watch that replay and tell me the turn of foot that horse showed after being dead stopped and clipping isnt incredible

The most insane thing about it is he wasnt cranked to run his biggest race. That horse is a damn freak, period.

7 lengths of trouble? Turn of foot?
How do you quantify trouble in a race to exact lengths?
His 'turn of foot' was achieved in a race where they were crawling home. The last 3/8ths in 38 seconds, last 1/8th in 12.3. The very next race a 100-1 shot ran his last 3/8ths in 36.4 and his last 1/8th in 12.2 going the same distance.
In essence the other horses were stopping so badly he looked like he was closing fast, which he wasn't.
He is a very good horse who overcame troble to swamp a bunch of listed type horse. No more, no less.

completely stopped?

where did that happen?

he barely lost 1/2 a stride

pssttt

trip handicapping 101 ---inside trips with blocks, bumps, etc. should not be held in high accord.


on a more important note, how do I turn off the option where I get emails everytime I post in a thread and someone
responds to it?

I'm getting pumped up here. Let me go back and watch the JOSE race where the jock STRANGLES him on the backside yet curiously can't keep him in during the stretch run while continually busting him righty with the whip.

Go to your control panel and shut off email notifications.

the fat man=troll alert

the fractions for both races might help.
The Donn
22.8/46.5/110.5/135.8/148.43

10th race allowance
24.0/49.0/113.9/138.3/150.8

The crawling home as you put it had a lot to do with how fast the earlier part of the race was run. Invasor crawled home to a final time that was 2.3 seconds faster than the other race.

I don't see it as some illusion caused by passing slow running horses. Jara held him from about midway on the turn, tryed to go out upon entering the stretch, finding no way to get out had to check up even more while angling back to the inside. As I watched the race it looked like an impossible position to rally from and win. The horses on the outside pathes had the momentum and time was running out. He was in real trouble pinned in behind a wall of horses.

What I found remarkable was how little time it took him to get out of the trouble and get the lead back, which he did in plenty of time to wrap it up again. He did close fast for the required amount of time it took him to get out of trouble.

In my view, you just don't see horses do, what he did in that race.

battle stations everyone!!

That's the thing I love about him, which I wrote about on my blog this past fall -- that he isn't a flashy horse, he doesn't have a turn of foot really at all. He isn't going to blow you away with jaw-dropping acceleration a la Ghostzapper but he gets on the track and delivers the same workmanlike performance every time.

He shows up, and he wins. He's not as exciting as many horses we've seen, but he sure knows how to win.

With that said, he didn't beat much today, but when horses are on the track with him...most don't seem like much,

I just watched the race and not about to read all this hilariousness BUT

1) Jara should be taken out back and shot in the melon, that is the LAST thing he was suppose to do, real smart to clip heels and tear a ligament or something

2) Pretty F'n impressive, BUT he did run up a golden rail, at least it was earlier on, not sure because I got HANDED today and stopped wagering and started drinking

And, he gets better with distance. He is just as happy if you want to keep running. No problem.

What I think it is about him is that it's like you say, not some flashy acceleration move, but that he doesn't slow down as fast as other horses. He runs fast during all phases of a race. He is one of the strongest I've seen in terms of his middle and late pace in the race. He is just real solid.

invasor is the real deal. he has been, his classic showed that.
the dramatics today were unnecessary, and we've seen better from him-and that field was a bunch of mules. but to imply he isn't that good because of how the race turned out today is incorrect imo.
and i agree with sightseek, thanks shadwell!!

it's his first race of the year, not fully up to snuff. he won, as he should have. on to bigger and better.

Cannon

That horse lost all of his momentum when he clipped. At that point Jara had to ask that horse to run. From the point when Invasor lost his momentum, to the point he ran past the leader his turn of foot was tremendous. I dont care what they came home in, how bad the field was, how good the set up was. You know when a horse gets stopped like that it takes more than an average performance to win.

As far as how many lengths he lost, who knows. Its not a math equation, weve all watched enough races to know losing momentum like that and clipping is going to cost you to lose lenghts. Not only that, but after he regained his stride he was still stopped in behind horses.

Had that horse been in the middle of the track he would have won by whatever Jara wanted. 10, 15, 20, whatever margin. You pick it

at the very least, keiran should put him over his knee.

Don't know if the link was put up for the race yet and I'm not going back to look so here.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s2WkqdxHWbU

Kieran said Fernando did a great job getting the horse out of a bad spot.

God, I wish Kieran was my dad when I was younger

Good race call by the way. Maybe that guy should replace Denman for the BC, b/c he spit the bit on BC day....Please bring Durkin back.

but he also did say that inside was the wrong way to go...nice of him not to publically tongue lash his jock.

Well, the other race was an N1X Allowance for newly turned 3yo's.....and the 108/1 winner of that race was 8-0-0-2 lifetime on fast tracks, his career top Beyer was just a 72.

Obviously, Invasor's race came home so tremendously slow for the Grade 1 Older Male level, because the early pace was very fast. However, Invasor benifited from that fast pace....as much or more so than any other horse in the race.

And while he overcame major leauge trouble---he did it in a collapsing race....and his "heroic late surge to victory" came through really slow late fractions for that type of race.

It was a great sight to watch....and he's obviously a very good horse....but, when circumstances are considered, that was far from a truly great performance.