Minister's Bid
 

Good luck to this horse, especially going long, against any good horses. He had a picture perfect trip, against two mediocrities, and was life and death to win. Where is he going from here? Yet another overhyped horse from the Ward barn ( anyone remember Stong Contendor? ).

Based on his sensational first effort if he is to make any impact it will be going shorter. Unfortunately, due to the lofty goals set for him, talking Haskell and Travers BEFORE this race, we are unlikely to see him in the King's Bishop. Not sure he would be close to good enough for that one but he would sure have a better shot than going long against tough horses.

He won by 2 lengths going away. Prado rode the perfect race. MB put away the two tepid pacesetters in the stretch. What more do you want ?

Geez I don't know about that. I know the last 1/4 was extremely slow but I think higher of both the 2nd and 3rd place finishers than you do I guess.
I think he was goofing, and I'm not prone to make that asessment real often. His ears were al l the way forward and flipping even as he was galloping out. He looked like a goofball who was having a ball out there to me. I would think he would move way forward off this race.

His first race was very impressive....no doubt. His second race was a total dud. Perfect trip and they crawled home.

Yeah, he has been off a couple months, what Ward horse isn't, but this was a very ordinary performance. Hell, Racketeer was in a drive for 7F.

I thought MB was dead on the far turn. Thought for sure Randall's horse Racketeer was going to win and Bull was going to hold 2nd. Randall is almost always right when he gives out horses on top on here.

Prado finally got MB to turn it up at the top of the stretch. MB found his stride and dug in to pull away. The horse has got to learn a lot off this race.

Wasn't that impressed. Extremely slow last 1/4 is an understatement. They were only going 1 mile. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers are nothing special. Hard to get a read on the horse because his other was at Keeneland, but I thought this horse would be more impressive. Hard to see that horse competing with Bernardini in the Travers with only one more race under his belt.

I totally agree.

Lets face it, he doesnt exactly have any world beaters to beat until he takes on 4 & 5 year olds. The 3 year olds left in training right now leave a lot to be desired. This horse may not lose another race until the BC Classic. Jazil is a joke and so is Bluegrass Rat. The only 3 year old horses he has to fear are Bernardini and Corinthian.

He was my lock today and he didn't dissappoint. Thanks boardies for pointing him out.

His race was comparable to Survivalist last Friday. Survivalist (4 yr old) started a little slower but ended up a little faster at 1:35 to 1:36 for MB. For his 2nd career start, I was impressed.

The Belmont winner is a joke? I don't think that was a joke to Pletcher(kept him from getting a his 1st Triple Crown Race win.)Why don't you show some respect?

And what is wrong with Bluegrass Cat ? He is a tough campaigner. For a Storm Cat , he shows mucho stamina.

Bluegrass Cat would beat Ministers Bid at 10F.

I think Sunriver will win the Travers. Reminds me very much of Flower Alley. And I think he will be much more successful than Bluegrass Cat the rest of this year.

Ya never know. Sorry Scuds, I disresepcted your horse. But its okay if you call All Hail Stormy, a favorite of mine, "my pet rat". Didnt know how sensitive you were, thought you were just a hardcore gambler. My bad.

Randall, I dont doubt anything you say after you showed me up in the BC.
Your the man!

Ministers Bid looked great to me. Put $750 in my pocket with the late double.

Fractions for the race were 110.16 and 136.77 for the mile. Track looked a little slow but 26.5 for the final 1/4 is super slow.

Well,the facts are that Jazil won a 1 million dollar grade 1 race.He is the 3 year old that showed improvement from the Kentucky Derby to the Belmont(a time when most stay the same,or regress.)He is well bred,and could keep improving.I just don't see how you can say the horse is a joke when he keeps running hard to the wire.I just don't understand the lack of respect shown that horse.Maybe his lack of speed is the reason people dislike him.I play very few horses that show the work ethic this horse shows.Very few.Just take a look at most of the raters(when the race doesn't set up for them.)They don't keep coming (regardless.)He does.I'll promise you one thing about this horse.He will not give up.He may get beat,but he ain't gunna quit,and go up and down,and side to side (like these others do when they see they are beaten.)

Can't knock Jazil but he doesn't appear to be that fast.

Wow, I think you might be a little tough on this horse! Did he look like he was ready to win the Travers today? Of course not. But this was only his second lifetime start. Nobody is going to confuse the 2 he beat with Slew and Affirmed, but they are both pretty good 3yo to beat your first time going 8f & after a layoff. He has the pedigree to indicate he will stretch out and improve, and although the closing time was slow, he was pulling away in the final strides. Obviously he will need to keep improving, but to me he looks like he has the potential to do it. Today was a nice win.

I agree, and I think the fact that he was going 8 furlongs for the first time, and the fact that he was coming off a substantial layoff are huge considerations in evaluating this horse's performance. He beat two very nice, experienced three year olds in only his second lifetime start and can only improve off of these circumstances. Most of you know that a horse usually doesn't win his first race back after a layoff unless it is a special animal because most of the time, they are not completely fit and mentally prepared until the second start back. This one is definitely one to watch for. Flashy Bull and Racketeer aren't bad horses, that is for sure, and MB beat them quite easily.

KYroses, there is only 1 "Bid". Let's not go there. LOL

You're right. There will always only be one "Bid" no matter how good his son gets. Let's just hope his wonderful son carries on his amazing legacy.

RIP old buddy.

Minister Bid
 

I think it is very foolish to knock a horse, any horse.
Minister Bid did the job.
Bottom line, he won....
He will only improve off that effort... where that leads no one really knows, but it is obvious he has some talent.

Charlie Whittingham said never know a horse until he is dead...
Minister Bid has not died yet....

PSH

My two cents
 

Yea, he won but did you see the way the jockey worked him for the lasy half of a race. To me he just past horses a little more tired than him and since they were in a speed duel together most the race he did not win with any resolve. Nice horse for a Thursday feature but didn't show me anything special. At least Strong Contender looked special even though he hasn't amounted to anything yet either. Nothing to hope for here as far as I;m concerned.

KY Rose,
Ministers Bid is not a son of Spectacular Bid.
He's by Deputy Minister-Princess Petrina (Spectacular Bid).
The one and only Bid was the broodmare sire.
DTS

The story...thought you all read it before the race.
My bad, shoulda posted it before.
http://www.nyra.com/belmont/second.aspx?track=B&id=2102

ooppps...grandson...

Ministers Bid looked like another overhyped Ward/Oxley horse, just like Strong Contender. Flashy Bull and Racketeert are slugs. They basically walked home. Bernardni's only 3yr old competition is going to come from a freshened Sweetnorthernsaint, a freshened Brother Derek or Showing Up. Those 3 are his only competition in my opinion. Corinthian is just too far behind the 8 ball.

I think the race was a push, it wasn't that good or bad. I have been all over this horse, but I don't think today told us anything either way, only that he won. Those were pretty good horses he beat, I will reserve further judgement until the next race, but I don't think this was a definitive race either way...

He's a nice colt....he wasn't having the best time of things before the race yet he still destroyed two decent 3-year-olds that had a lot more experience than him.....I loved this colt's maiden win and I truly believe he is a good horse....Do I think he can be Bernardini or Discreet Cat-type material?...No, but he is nice...I just don't care for his connections...John Ward usually doesn't get it all out of his horses...

...He can impact the late summer 3-year-old races...

So, apparantly sitting behind two horses dueling for the lead, one of them in a drive from a quarter mile into the race, and being ridden very hard to win by a couple lengths is now considered a destruction? You gotta be kidding.

He had a perfect trip and was ridden hard to beat two OK, but decidedly lesser, 3YOs.

Not a bad race. Strong Contender II ? He just adds to a Spa meet with contenders for the Jim Dandy and Travers. From a betting stand point, it doesn't get better than that.

Yea,it is not the race I was thinking I might see from him,but he beat stakes type horses fairly easily(although having to be whipped to do it.)He will have to be better than that,but it did seem as if he was not very cranked up by the trainer just yet.Very difficult to say just where this horse fits in as far as the 3 year olds go this year. He sure didn't look like a 2 turn horse to me,but his breeding says he is(and his trainer thinks he is.) If they wanted to win without blowing his wad,then mission accomplished.

I tend to agree w/Scuds here. Racketeer's last was on turf and his race before that was an experiment trying to rate so on a good day, he's only 2 1/2 behind Point Determined and AP Warrior so he's a decent 3YO. Same w/Flashy Bull. On paper there was very little speed in the race so it was going to be difficult to make up any ground. I don't know what some people on here were expecting but I don't understand the criticism.....I guess they were expecting a monster win margin ridden out. Get a grip. It was his first time going long, his second career race, and once Prado got him straightened out he leveled out pretty good in the final sixteenth. This is a very good horse.

I just took another look at the race .... and ...

... Minister's Bid was kept four-wide around the entire turn ... raced greenly until the eighth-pole ... and responded well when he switched leads and hit his best stride.

He ran his final quarter in about :26 flat ... which isn't great ... but not so bad considering that half of it was run off-stride.

A very decent effort for a second start ... and he's certainly eligible to improve. I wouldn't write him off just yet.

Horses go under a drive because they cannot keep up with other horses..do you not know this? Minister's Bid is a very inexperienced colt that was very rank early on...the fact he was ridden hard doesn't necessarily mean that he was "all-out" to win....he is not a seasoned racehorse and it would be asonine to assume that he turned in a top effort yesterday...the fact still remains that his trainer is very average and this colt will do better with racing experience - like most horses with bad trainers do....

...Contrary to what you may believe, Flashy Bull (only a couple lengths from winning the FOY) and Racketeer (only a couple of lengths behind California's best earlier this year) aren't exactly mules....just because they aren't Derby-caliber contenders doesn't mean that they are walk-overs...

For those of you who are interested and believe in beyer speed figs (which I don't necessarily do), Minister' Bid got a 101 for yesterday's effort - which is ot horrible for a colt making his second lifetime start.....AND, he'll only improve around two-turns..

....For blackthroatedwind to dub yesterday's performance as unimpressive, that is a horrible analysis....this horse can run

I don't think anyone's writing off an obviously talented horse, but I've seen comments to the effect that MB is as good as the best (or better than) the best 3 year olds, he should be Travers favorite, etc....That is simply premature (very premature, actually) at this point. For one thing, Bernardini is out there. IMO, he is far more talented than his peers and is one of most talented horses, period, in the country. Plus, he's proven himself -let's not forget what he did in the Preakness (only 4th start, none around two turns, etc......). His Withers was tremendous, but no one knew really how good he was before the Preakness (could he even class up to the better 3 year olds?) so if I had said then that he was a top 3 year old, that would have been premature. Same thing with MB.

Speaking of Bernardini, didn't he get around a 101 when he won the Withers in basically a match race? That was career start number 3, and I think yesterday's NW1X with Racketeer and Flashy Bull (and others) was decidedly stronger than the graded Withers. After two races, Minister's Bid is every bit as good as Bernardini was after his first two (actually three) races. It wasn't until the Preakness that Bernardini really moved forward.

Where to begin. In your response you didn't answer the one question I had for you....how could you label yesterday's win a " destruction " of his field? That was my only question. Your other sadly condescending remarks were unnecessary.

I will once again repeat, I believe yesterday's win was unimpressive, especially in relation to the hype this horse has generated. I realize you have already developed a built in excuse for his future failures ( John Ward being, according to you, a bad trainer ) but I would like to know your prediction for the future.....good or bad?

I believe suggesting he will improve around two turns, as you did, is a " horrible analysis " ( you don't mind if I borrow that one from you...do you? ). This is a closing sprinter. Perhaps if they don't ruin him before that he will do OK in this Fall's Jerome.

By the way, horses go into drives for a variety of reasons, and I didn't give one in the case of Racketeer, but merely pointed out that he was in one very early in the race. And, oh yeah, The Fountain of Youth was a HORRIBLE race this year and I suggest you take a good look at the subsequent performances by the entrants in that race.