Lottsa Talc had an amazing closing kick.

When you get home from work, google him for videos...he was exciting to watch!

Oh boy. You should try to find some old film. He was unreal. I believe he was like 28-30 lengths behind the leader in the 58 SA Derby and he ended up winning by 3. I heard a story once that Silky trailed the leaders by something like 40 lengths in a 6.5 furlong race and won by a neck. Not sure if this is true, but it sounds good to me

Take the bluff set the pace early after a stumble and had a 4 length lead at the 1/8 pole. He won by a length and a half. You can't possibly think that another panel would not have factored into the finish.

Thanks. The track got frighteningly speed favoring, especially in routes, as the day wore on.

The routes on the inner are beginning to feel like routes at Keeneland pre-polytrack.

Just like every other day the last month, winter racing in NY, that's the way it is, be in front at the 1/2 mile pole or you can't win.

Here's the replay... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r636kJEnmGs

You can't possibly think that another panel would not have factored into the finish.

Honestly, no I dont think it would have mattered. I thought Jazil was going to win this race easily today but there was absolutely no way for me to bet a race like this. If he had been 6/5 I may have made a token bet.

THANK YOU!!

It has been poorly maintained this year but in year's past the inside bias has not been as prevelant as it has been at this meet.

I guess it's good if you win and bad if you lose. Hopefully it will even out and we can get more good bet backs off wide to nowhere trips.

That is the definition of a closer. Think about this:

You have a 6F sprint, with two main contenders; a deep closer and a frontrunner.
The frontrunner goes :22, :46, 1:12 and wins by a neck.
The closer is 7 lengths at the first call, 4 at the 2nd call, and loses by the neck.
What fractions did the front runner run? :22, :24, :26.
What fractions did the closer run? approximately :23 1/5, :23 2/5, :25 2/5.

Nearly all horses decelerate on the dirt, very few can and do accelerate at the end of the race. It's an optical illusion that the "closers" are actually running faster at the end than they did at the beginning... they're just decelerating at a lesser rate.

first rate btw..right on point...5 rattles to you..

I didn't know you were such a Sun King fan Sightseek ;)

Than how do you differentiate a "plodder"?

The part in bold is excellent and in my opinion, exactly right. The second part about him being good enough is, again, in my opinion, totally wrong. This is one of the worst horses ever to win a TC race and he's totally overrated. He's got no speed whatsoever and I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that he'll never win another grade one race. Actually, I'll take it a step further and say he'll never win another stakes race of any grade. By midyear, when he's retired, he'll still just have the same number of wins on his record that he's got now.

Am I the only one that saw the 2 horse stumble at the gate, get his legs under him, take the lead around the mile - 7/8th pole and hold it until he had nothing left while Jazil maintained a fairly constant pace the whole trip, closing in stretch down to the final 1/16th to within 2 lengths?

Not making excuses, but even McLaighlin said he needs more distance - from NYRA website:

>>> “We anticipated this a little bit. You have to be concerned with the tight turns and backing up to a mile and a sixteenth. He wants farther; we know that."<<<

This race goes 1 1/8 instead of 1 1/16th and you've got a different winner. Not that that's anything to celebrate.

But this logic that Jazil would have fared worse going longer is incomprehensable...

Not much of a tree you're venturing onto there Captain Obvious.

I also think Jazil is a better horse than you think. Grade 1? He's a dog...probably less likely than Strong Contender....but he has an outside shot. The reason your other bold prediction MAY come true is he may make too many starts where he doesn't belong. But I think if given a fair shot in reasonable starts he will surprise you.

I realized the first part was too easy so that's why I added the second. I don't think he has any shot to win though because I don't see them as the type to take steps backwards with him once they take him back to stakes competition. I think he'll either race in big races and lose and then be retired or he'll race in big races and lose and keep running. But I don't see them running him in cheap stakes races.

Jazil :P

Just kidding. A plodder is a closer who never wins!

:rolleyes: