I kinda understand your reasoning... but Dont get Mad didnt even hit the board. finished 4th as a big longshot (and I did pick him in a RTIP contest in my top 5). He isnt a good example. Dunkirk isnt running for 4th.

he was pissed that the track was souped for front runners.

Did they have to hose him down or did they just want to?

Either way he didn't look like a monster to me.


Pletcher had no reason to believe the track was going to be groomed to track record conditions. That was a bullcrud War Emblem thing to do.

Most of the horses were getting hosed down yesterday. It was very warm and pretty humid.

The track was fast... It's Gulfstream Park. It's almost always a very fast track. It was not a ridiculously souped-up track, records or not.

i agree, that track is always fast unless it rains. plus the race was not even close. johnny was looking around ( the wrong side for a second) waiting on the closers, once he shook that horse and turned him loose it was all she wrote. it was not like he won by a neck, the margin of victory was decisive. dunkirk was clearly overmatched yesterday. what do these people expect it was his third start and he was in the florida derby. this is not last year, these horses are fast, he did well to get second.

Face it Dahoss...
It was a horrible performance.

Pletcher had no business running that bum.

Good point.

Maybe he thought all those other race were won by the best horse. So the first 2 out finished 1 - 2 or 1 - 3 in every other race... that had nothing to do with him.

The problem with running in the Derby Trial is simple. Sure, I don't see any reason why a horse can't come back in a week but I also understand, like Cannon said, that this is a copy cat thing, and until some big timers start doing it with success, it's not going to be done. But let's just say that Pletcher did want to do it and could convince the owners to do it. Then what? You come back in the Derby the next week. Well, why enter the Derby if you don't plan on winning it? So they win the Derby and nobody is going to skip the Preakness with a Derby winner. I think that you have to plan for all three races if you plan for the first one. So really, if your plan is to go in the Derby and you run in the Derby Trial, you've got to think about it as four races in seven weeks and not just think about the coming back in one week. I'm going to say that may be a bit much. Maybe if we were talking about that sprinter that lady ran in the TC last year or the year before. But not with a horse that's run three times in his career. I think that this is what the biggest problem is these days. People focus so much on the Derby that they don't think about the other two races. Horses are athletes and they need to be conditioned. You can't run a horse once a month or once every 6-8 weeks then then expect him to all of a sudden be ready for three races in six weeks.

Dunkirk is going straight to the Super Derby (Sep. 19), with a prep in the Super Derby Prelude on Saturday, August 15. Todd will not be attending the Alabama at Saratoga that weekend and will instead enjoy a nice afternoon of racing from the Sky Room on the fourth floor of Louisiana Downs. If he's lucky, ntamm1215 will make a cameo handicapping appearance and give Todd some tips himself at no cost.

Pletcher is full of it here. Aqueduct does the same thing on big days. Todd needs to look no further than 2004 when they ran the Carter in 1:20.22 and the Bay Shore in 1:20.67 or 2005 when they ran the Wood in 1:47.16 (new stakes record, the Carter in 1:20.46, and the Bay Shore in 1:21.33.