Calvin's ride
 

I thought was even better than the Derby. He made some amazing thread the needle moves and man, I thought he had it. Much credit to Curlin and Robby. Great race all around.:cool:

... or if he doesn't stop whipping to see who's coming, he might have won the race.

100% WHAT I thought and still think

I didn't catch that. I guess it's possible. He may have thought he had it in the bag and glanced back long enough to let Curlin clip him. The ride to get into position was a thing of beauty though.

I thought the same at first....but the horse was clear by quite a few lengths....and simply hung....had nothing to do with Borel not whipping for about 1 second.

Calvin - Arrogance? - Mistake?
 

It sure seemed to me that he was acting "sure of himself" on NBC before the race.

Did he pass Curlin and say, "game over" and then look back to see how bad he was beating the competition to only let up on Street Sense enough to get beat?

After all, on Friday Calvin was "confident".

I thought his ride was great.

CP....he quitting hitting the horse for MAYBE 1 second. The horse hung all by himself.

Kev, I hear ya, but when the difference between 1st and 2nd is about an inch, maybe the 1 second turn of the head to look over at Curlin may have cost him the race. I still can't believe he did not win.

its not a good sign seeing him look over like that. I'd rather see my jock worry whats behind after the line. most of the time, he'll get away with it, but on a big stage like this and history on the line, it's going to be a talking point..

I am thinking about the timing of when he quit asking, how far from the line.

No big deal to me, I was done from a gambling aspect after Race 10 but.......
but.....................

He may have moved a bit early. But why not. We saw the turn of foot in the Derby. We saw it again. It is exciting to see two very good horses this year both uninjured I hope.

I'm no rider, but I'd think the horse feels the rhythm of the jock. When that rhythm stops, horse relaxes a bit. Besides, it's not like he had to make up a couple of lengths.

You and I agree and I think from the outside that that move, albeit slight, was the move that lost the race for the simple reason that it happened so close to the target, the finish line.

I understand what you guys are saying....but IMO...I don't think it was enough to make a difference. The better horse won today.

Reverse the trips....and Curlin wins by 2+ lengths.

Is the definition of hanging gaining the lead and thinking your clear and relaxing too early?

Cause I just didn't see that GP, it just looked like he got caught at the wire, happens all the time. Curlin is a really talented horse and deserves all the credit. They both ran a winning race. NOT like the 6th at Churchill where I had a $16 horse pay 5.80 on a dead heat :mad: :mad:

Bro....look at the race from the turn home through the finish. SS had Curlin by the nuts....and quit.

Like I said a couple posts ago...reverse the trips....and it is not a race.

I suppose, but damn, my point to the post was the ride to get there. Did the man not navigate a masterful race to hit the stretch? It's a shame if he let up slightly and got clipped. Only he knows for sure. You cannot deny he flat threaded the needle a couple of times where a lot of jocks would not have the balls to do so.

Oh no....I would never question that ride.....the ride was fine. Just happens the better horse won today.

Guess we'll never know for sure, but if I'm the owner I say you get paid to ride your best gate to wire. That's two in a row he wants to see what's behind him. He needs a rear view mirror.

Calvin rode a good race, the fact is Street hung. That is the cold hard facts. Maybe blinkers will help?? maybe who knows. I would much rather have a jock that thought we could win, than one that thinks we cant. He didnt give a ride that cost his horse the race,,,,the horse cost them the race. period end of story. I think he was smart to make the first move and try to get far enough out there, if he knows the horse hangs. No arrogance, no mistakes.

He timed his ride perfect. He made the lead at the right time and was a winner. But Street Sense, not Calvin's whip, his ride, his pumping, his chirping - but Street Sense - pulled off the gas a bit while Curlin dug back in. The right horse won this race, fair and square.

It was shocking how quickly Curlin floored it after being passed by SS. I think both Borel and SS were shocked Curlin came on like he did. Hat's off to both and the best won today.

If anyone rode badly it was Albarado on Curlin. Street Sense should have never gotten by him. Robby moved way too soon on Curlin. He was all over the track.

If you pass a horse and that horse passes you back and wins -- only one thing can be said -- you got beat by a superior animal.

Physically Curlin is a monster.

Im tired of hearing the work "hang" in SS performance. He ran fantastic. Hanging in my opinion is coming up to a horse and either laying on him or just not wanting to go by. Borel said he felt SS idle just a bit in deep stretch, but only he can verify that. I thought he ran straight and strong to the wire.

We saw a rarity today in the stretch out of Curlin. The lightning fast SS blew by him and Curlin then looked up to his left right at SS as he just put it into an even higher gear and went and got his adversary. ..awsome...and Stevens thinks Curlin can improve some more to...scary.

You sound like someone who lost a bet and not watched the racE. SS didnt lose the race Curlin won it.

I agree, two excellent rides and two superior horses battled to the wire...no blame here just a great horse race!

"don't look back — something might be gaining on you"

-satchel paige

Thank you, I have always felt the same thing and have said so on various threads. To me people use this term "hang" sometimes incorrectly and it makes me cringe.

I always thought like you do that hangers were horses that just don't have the will to go by, intead they wait, or "hang" around.
Street Sense ran like a monster, and so did Curlin.

Agreed, this race was one for the ages!

I'll chime in with my take. I think if you have the better horse just ride him until your both head to head. SS always gets lazy on the lead, Derby and Tampa Derby are both examples of this as is the Blue Grass. The horse does better when he has a chance to see the horse he's running against head to head like he did against AGS at Tampa. Looking over your shoulder 50 yds to the wire doesn't help either. I think he should've let S drift out a little to slow Curlin down just that little bit and make'em take you down.

curlin was the better horse today. calvin ran a very good race. robbie also ran a good race after what happened to him early in the day.

So if whipping didn't matter, why did he start whipping him again? Just to beat him cause he wasn't the best horse this day? I'm not taking anything away from Curlin, he's a beast. The point is that Calvin didn't give it his best all the way to the wire. Afterall, it's the Preakness. Keep the rhythm of racing all the way to the wire, give your horse every opportunity to find that extra ten inches to win the second leg of the triple crown.

I thought this was pretty interesting...

"Borel said he thought he had beaten both Hard Spun and Curlin. “I thought it was all over when I got by Hard Spun turning for home," Borel said. "I thought he was just going to gallop. But things happen. He just got to gawking 40 yards from home and he just got outrun."

Who got to gawking? Or was this a quote from the horse?

I thought it was an excellent race by both horses, but I could have done without that quote from Borel, considering he was doing some gawking himself...

I just watched all the replays again (isolations, overheads) on NBC Sports.

I don't see Borel backing off one bit. To the contrary, he never stopped. He was in the clear, he wanted to make sure he stayed there alone. If he didn't check he would have been beaten 1-2 lengths by not knowing Curlin was doing the amazing and unexpected. He knew his horse relaxes on the lead a bit. How often does a horse come back at you when you definitively and clearly put him away? This horse ran a record Preakness time. Street Senses' move around the turn, through horses, was awesome riding by Borel. Masterful. He BLEW by everyone - including Curlin.

Curlin was the one that seemed to waver, just a half-second, at the head of the stretch, until Street Sense blew by and he refocused on Street Sense. And what a gutsy, amazing feat of acceleration for a horse of his size, stride, inexperience. He won as his stride is bigger and longer than SS - watch the last 10 strides of the race.

I wonder what Hard Spun could do at a mile. Holy geeshes.

What a great race. Only wish I could have seen it in person. One for the memory.

99.99% of Albarado's wins are on the best horse in the race.The other .01% are when a jock on the best horse makes a mistake.I'd say Borel(technically) made a tactical mistake,but it is so common to make this particular mistake.One of the hardest things for a jock to do is to have some caution when your riding a horse with a good turn of foot.I'd say that the connections may be a little more cautious about using him up like it is a hook race at Los Al.Just because he has a great turn of foot doesn't mean you have to use it all with 10% of the race to run.They got away with it in the Derby,and they didn't get away with it today.I think 90% of people blew off the fact that S.S. was tiring late in the Derby. That was a very big move to make today.Your asking a lot of a horse to make that monster move 2 weeks after he did it going 10f.This is the monster move that won them 2 huge races.So,I see why they continued the strategy,but with just 2 weeks rest between races,it's a lot to ask of a horse.Extremes are dangerous,and they let this horse go all-in on that turn.They have done that 3 times now.The only time he didn't tire late was on the most questionable track of last year.Street Sense is the better horse,but a more cautious strategy is needed.I think we will see him ridden a bit differently now.

Two points:

1) I need to check the replays again but it appears the Curlin was needlessly widest on the 2nd turn.

2) it takes Curlin till almost mid stretch to change leads, then a few strides to settle when he does --- if he changes when SS does, it wouldn't have been a contest.

Borel did nothing wrong, the fact of the matter is that Curlin was the best horse today.