hard spun ..impressed..not really
 

hung on ok..reppo had the worst ride ive seen latley..:D

For You Reppo never really ran a step. Desourmeaux did a good job saving ground into the first turn and just had no horse. The problem with polytrack races is you don't know if it is the surface or the horse. They would be wise to take a step back and think about midsummer to late fall dirt races for him. Surely he's better than he ran today though probably not top class.

Hard Spun ran well. How much better than last time is debatable as nobody else seemed to run a step. I just hate these polytrack results because I don't know what to take from them.

Hard Spun ran hard from the beginning, got himself into good position after settling in, and then ran away. I would say the connections could not have asked for a better run. There is nothing to say except he is good. Yet another horse that can get in good position because of quickness out of the gate coupled with front in spend, and the ability to hold form.

He does pound the ground pretty good. He goes on to the Blue Grass where he will be severely tested provided horses stay healthy.

I thought he ran pretty good. The race was loaded with speed, and he battled wide the whole way. The only negative I'd say is we really don't know what he beat because they were mostly grass and Poly specialists.

Was Forefathers injured, guys?

ran like it..

Yeah, he was eased up... stopped bad. Wonder if he bled or if he injured himself some other way.

from the chart...
FOREFATHERS close up between rivals,
was bounced around between rivals with three furlongs to go, stopped badly and was eased up late.

Same thing I read. LOL :p

I was just trying to figure out what came of that. He's no world beater, but I thought he'd run better than that, you know?

honestly, I am never entirely sure what to make of poly races...good or bad.
I hope he is ok.

Yeah, me too.

As for Hard Spun, I'm fairly impressed.

Polytrack or no, I was impressed with Hard Spun's run today. The early splits were fast but he went right with the leaders, rated kindly off them, and pulled away easily when asked.

One measure of HS's success might be the good showing of Joe Got Even, who gave his usual game effort. Despite his liking for and familiarity with Turfway, and despite his experience in large congested fields, Joe was no match for the winner. Still, his connections should be pleased, as should those of Catman Running, who defeated JGE last out.

The horses who really turned in unimpressive outings, besides the already-mentioned Forefathers, were Casse's Approval Rating, Terranova's Sports Town, and Pletcher's Bullara, who proved themselves unable to keep up with the likes of Hard Spun. The latter two were run off their feet by the early pace. They're decent horses, and they'll come back to run well, but today's race showed that they should be competing in lower class brackets.

Pitts trains For You Reppo.

I know, I hit the "post" button too soon.

It's nice to know that people can respond to the real gist of a message.

Giving Sightseek a hard time around here won't help your board cred.

Approval Rating, Sports Town, and especially Bullara, were nonfactors when they were entered. Taking nothing away from Hard Spun, who run a terrific race, his beating them proved nothing. One is dramatically slow, the other is a sprinter at best and Bullara just stinks.

The problem with the race is that nobody else really showed up. This isn't Hard Spun's fault, and he did everything right, but none of the possible contenders even ran a lick. Since his next start is at Keeneland, we may not really know how he measures against the real talent until the Derby.

Is the Oaklawn surface that difficult for some horses to handle, this is in reference to their on the air interview with the trainer

I'm not a trainer, and Larry Jones is a good trainer, but according to his pps and really any speed figures you use, Hard Spun ran his best career race at Oaklawn. The bottom line is Jones found the weakest race with the best purse to guarantee Hard Spun a spot in the Derby if he won. I applaud him for that but find this " he didn't like Oaklawn " stuff to fly in the face of the facts.

I am not saying I will always be right, as sometimes the stories are true, but for the most part ignoring " trainerspeak " is the best thing you can do.

Forefathers didn't hit a lick, he shouldn't have been in the race to begin with. Horse was outmatched in the Hutcheson.

Zito does this to his horses, he talks to much. Everytime he gets on Central Kentucky bluegrass he thinks his horses are gonna run lights out.

Pass.

I got Any Given Saturday, Great Hunter, Street Sense in the Blue Grass... he wont be tested here? Or its a poly thing?

I just take these poly races at face value.If I try to read in to it,it just makes me pull my hair out.

While stretching him out may not have been the 'right' decision, what trainer with a horse that can run isn't looking for a way to stretch them out and get into the Derby?

One could reason the cause of this 'outmatching' in the Hutcheson...

For me it's a Poly thing. I just see it as a third surface at this time.

At this time of year, we all tend to get caught up in what each race means in terms of a horse's Derby chances. Coming into today I didn't think Hard Spun was going to be a legit contender for the Derby, and I still don't think he will be.
BUT, this was still an impressive and important win for Hard Spun. Whether we like it or not, being able to win on poly is becoming a pretty important aspect of the game these days. Joe Got Even (my pick for this race) is a pretty decent stakes horse at TP and he ran his usual decent race today. Hard Spun defeated him easily despite being close to a hot pace and a bit wide. That's fairly impressive.
Today didn't convince me that he is going to win or be close on Derby Day, but it did convince me that he could be a very quality stakes horse this year on multiple surfaces.

Excellent points.

didn't it have something with graded earnings?

He did what he had to.

Does Pletcher reconsider sending 'Saturday to the Bluegrass considering he needs more graded stakes earnings?

I don't think it was the right decision, and nothing in the Hutcheson showed me that it was. Trainers and owners get hopeful, they aspire to be in the Winners Circle in May and not all horses can be.

Just the way I feel about this particular horse.

I agree with this...the Bay Shore could be an excellent race each year if more and more owners remained realistic.

Yeah Zito could learn alot from Grits. He's practically a novice at putting horses in the right spot. :D :D :D :D

Please be nice to me Pants. You made me cry the other day, and I hate it when that happens. I'm ill equipped for the unexpected. I've dealt with enough, I don't need you to work me over on a daily basis.

You make me cry everyday.

I don't mean to. I like you, and I'm sorry that you don't like me.

You're starting to grow on me. If you're lucky i'll start calling you my beauty mark.

I'll look forward to that, maybe you'll come around. In the meantime, I'll laugh at your photos and your fine sense of humor.

Damn, I may even buy you dinner, but that's pushing it--real hard.

I assure you that if we did meet that the dinner would be on you, especially if it's loaded with curry.

Pants, who taught you how to dance like that--with your boombox and all??

Hammer

Disappointed to see this performance knocked today. You can question the validity of poly all you want. But he was very professional today and impressive in my book.

Did anybody knock him?

When you title a thread like "not really impressed", what other context is there....Did i say you knocked him andy, no....I'll take this performance over either horse in the Tampa Bay Derby....and that's saying nothing of whether I would bet Hard Spun going forward.