All he really had to do was have a jockey that had a brain.

I'm not saying I feel strongly that he would have won but I think he might have.

If I hadn't recorded over my Preakness coverage in a fit of the grumps, I'd go check but I swear, it seems like someone from his camp uttered the words...possibly Larry Jones referring to Mario's ride. Eh, it's a moot point to figure out how Pino could ride him any differently anyway. Let's see what GG can do. Out of curiosity, what would you say is Garrett's most obvious attribute? Some have serious clocks in their heads, some eat up strategy, others are rail huggers or outside run fanciers, some are endowed with the "special" knowledge that the horse is supposed to run in a counterclockwise direction... GG's nickname isn't Garrett "Likes to go around horses even if it's in the 10 path on the turn" Gomez or anything right?

I don't pay much attention to Gomez. He seems patient and he rides a lot of likely winners. I can understand the switch from Pino but Pino has done absolutely nothing wrong on Hard Spun. He would have finished no better than he has in any of his races with Gomez as opposed to Pino.

The only ride I would question was the one in the Southwest, but that was probably more based on instructions from the trainer than any tactical riding error.

I agree but that one seemed more circumstantial. In retrospect they should have sent him as that was probably their only viable alternative.

I couldn't possibly disagree more and this kind of micro-overanalysis has no relevance in real life racing situations.

You've got him splitting horses as they " begin to backpeddle. " Come on....stop! You're killing me.

He rode the horse correctly...he sat off the silly duel and went by them as they stopped and another horse was coming to his flank. That's how you ride.

Exactly. LOL

:p

Yeah, but they ran 4 mile heats back then

Pino taking any heat for the ride in the Belmont is crazy. What did he do wrong? He would have been wrong to wing out there with the 2 pacesetters. He would have been wrong to wait until Curlin and Street Sense rolled up to his hip. Any ride besides the ride he gave was wrong. What he did was ride a winning race on a horse who wasnt good enough to win.

The Belmont hasn't been run yet.

You know what I mean

It's calling " dancing with the girl that brought you there " and Pino's date was plenty pretty but just not pretty enough.

How often has Pino ridden at Belmont? Big Sandy is a course apart and out of towners can get fooled by the length of the turns into moving prematurely. Since Pino already has one possible misjudgment of this sort on this horse hanging over him, a switch to a jock with more experience on the course might have been seemed to be the one small edge that could put them in winner's circle. Hard Spun doesn't have his classic win yet.