"best horse I've ever ridden"
 

Oh, come on, now. Better than Fu Peg? Better than Real Quiet ?
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23750104/

I guess it's called derby fever. :o

John Pricci is so mod with that black dress shirt.

It ain't like Fu Peg and Real Quiet were legends, so why not? Sure it's hyperbole, but the sky may be the limit with this one.

Let me get this straight. According to Desormeaux, his statements after winning that allowance were just puffery, heat of the moment stuff. Understandable. But then he works the horse -- JUST WORKS THE HORSE -- and he's suddenly convinced that the horse is as good, after all, as he made him out to be in his admittedly hyperbolic post-race comments?

I give jocks a lot of credence, more so than some on here, in terms of how they can help a horse win a race. I really do believe that the best ones know their animals, and know how to cater to a horse's predilections. But it seems like even Desormeaux isn't immune to the hype that seems to follow Big Brown.

I'm reading a book right now on Man o'War. After the horse showed just how good he was, everyone, including Sam Riddle tried to re-write history to make it seem like they recognized the horse's greatness from the moment they first laid eyes on him. This is kind of the same thing, except it's preemptive rather than revisionist. Everyone wants to be able to say, if BB should happen to win the Derby, "I was on to him way back when."

Maybe the horse is really as good as Desormeaux believes. But how can he POSSIBLY know that at this point?

And maybe Fu Peg and Real Quiet aren't in the highest pantheon of racing legends, but no one's going to forget them any time soon (especially Real Quiet, who's come closest to winning the triple crown since '78). We might be forgetting BB after next week.

For the record, I really like Georgie Boy. But the rational part of my brain prevents me from telling everyone he's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

this statement hurts me.... it really does... fu peg was a monster. big brown, has done nothing, beat no one, and hes better then the legendery son of mr prospector ?

listen hoss..... he was a kentucky derby winner.... i love kent d, but comparing him to big brown at this point, is the craziest thing i have ever herd.... i am 100% positive there is no way he wins the florida derby.....and then what will kent say ?

i forgot that just any average horse wins races like the wood, kentucky derby, jerome....... second in the preakness.... chalk in the class, obviously was not himself that day

ok ok my main point is he is tons better then big brown, and i feel confident big brown will never accomplish even close to what he did, maybe i did overhype fupeg, i did slam him in that derby at 2-1, i tend to overhype horses sometimes

and i swear i slammed him with real money, i was only 15, i had a little part time job, i had my dad go put 200 to win on him for me...... i thought i was rich

you should.... so then i sit on it the money my parents are trying to take it and put it in the bank,telling me to buy school clothes, and im like no way preakness is in 2 weeks.........im taking my 200 and betting the rest back, i remember it like it was yesterday.... i put 200 more to win on fu peg, and a 200 doller exacta fu peg- red bullet, i was shocked, stunned and cryed

yes today

i played 50 exacta adriano-duke of the ****

instead of just putting the 50 to win on him at 5-1

You must have been suicidal after his Breeders Cup performance...

i was but i was only a kid, i bet him that day too, i think 100 to win, my dad went and made that bet for me also

I had 50 grand on FuPeg in the Derby. I remember telling my mom to take some of the winnings and buy some new tits.

fupeg.... where does he rate compared to others ?

afleet alex
smarty jones

i feel those 2 were overrated and fupeg was way underrated

Yeah. To this day they're the "best tits I've ever bought"

:confused:

He rates below both of them because he did jack and s.hit after the Derby...in most part because he was bats.hit insane.

I'm no Smarty fan but FuPeg couldn't hold his jockstrap in a suitcase. Don't give me that sticky track in the Preakness crap. That was his chance to get positioned to do something great and he ran horribly. A late season win in the Jerome did nothing to atone for that effort.

Overrated = FuPeg.

NT

Remember Red Bullet skipped the Derby for the Preakness, awfully smart move, paid off huge.

Oh yea, FuPeg is extremely over-rated as both a horse AND now a sire.

Seriously, Big Brown has exactly 2 wins under his belt. The same number of quarter cracks he has had in his career. I'll pass on him in the Derby. If he makes it into the starting gate he will be way overbet anyway.

:D

AP Valentine
 

speaking of overrated

Remember AP Valentine

so much for perfect confirmation

which Fusaichi Pegasus was said to have

Im not defending FP.. but how was that Jerome terrible?

Fusaichi Pegasus, El Corredor, Albert The Great, Hook And Ladder...

A field like that would be considered remarkably deep nowadays...

How do you, or anyone else know how good Big Brown is? Kent may be off his rocker (quite possible), but he also could end up being right.

All that gold, they could at least have someone use a grass trimmer around
the outsides of that thing.

Yeah, I fixed that for myself, it was a strong race.

NT

Did Mom appear in the Beulah thread??

Planet Japan

Kent was Formal Gold's regular rider back when he strung together a trio of Beyer figs of 125 or more.

Fu Peg or Real Quiet couldn't warm up Formal Gold when he was on his game.

Fu Peg as a sire is almost a instant maiden throw out in their first 2 starts. Real head cases. I dont like them.

Big Brown; Why the hype?
 

I happened to catch the race in real time on HRTV and the part that doesn't make sense was Jeff Siegel's reaction. Not thirty seconds past the wire, he's calling him "The best colt in the country."

Here's a guy that's been connected to a couple of really good ones making that kind of statement.

On April 18 last year, Godolphin rolled out a 4-year named Rondo who drilled an allowance field at Gulfstream in a similar fashion after winning by nine in his previous start eight months prior at Saratoga.

Rondo was beaten in an optional claimer at Belmont at 1-5 odds the following month and for all intents, was never heard from again.

Maybe there's memo out at HRTV that's calling for some hype to help viewership for the big race at Gulfstream.

DMM

Interesting point. I am not going to argue about Kent's comments, or about Siegel's opinion for that matter. However, just as a point of reference, Jeff Siegel wasn't just "connected" to some really good horses. His role was much more than that. Although most people here may know about Siegel, being a co-founder/partner in Team Valor (and their predecessor operation), most people here don't know the details and specifics, his role, etc.

There is a huge difference between handicapping (picking out a good horse to bet on) and identifying talent (picking out a good horse to buy, own, etc.).

Eric

Despite their prominence amongst racing syndicates, has Team Valor really been all that productive?

Outside of Prized (who was one of the early Clover Racing Stable horses) and Star of Cozzene (another Clover Racing horse) I can't really think of any horses that they campaigned successfully that weren't already well established at the time of purchase.

Team Valor
 

as recently as last year or was it the year before they took come South African filly to Dubai and won a big race.

How much success do you expect from them?

I was basically replying to the statement about Jeff Siegel's eye for horses (as apparently he thinks the world of Big Brown). Outside of the 2 I mentioned, who I think still had allowance conditions at the time, I can't think of any particularly astute purchases they made recently.

They bought into Ipi Tombe after she had already won various accolades in South Africa. I don't think you needed to have been particularly adept at judging racing talent to be able to identify Ipi Tombe as the best horse in South Africa at the time, given her illustrious record. That was 5 years ago by the way.