Thank You Mine That Bird
 

If it wasn't for Mine That Bird's inscutable effort today, we would have seen three relative mediocrities hit the wire together in one of the slowest KY Derbies in modern history. Now, instead of endlessly hearing about how wonderful a horse Pioneer of the Nile is, and one that only synthetic haters failed to see the obvious greatness of, we can all scratch our heads as to how this otherwise " slow " horse could destroy today's field.

I guess two things happened, the good horses all scratched for various reasons in the weeks leading up to the race and one horse loved the off-going....and the rest just aren't that good or completely didn't show up.

Today's Derby, which had a great deal of promise a month ago, ended up being a shell of its possible self, and one run on a sloppy surface that ultimately answered few questions. But at least it didn't produce a slew of undeserved accolades. For that I am thankful.

Why? You're above caring about the Kentucky Derby. Remember?

My concern about the KY Derby is solely tied to your blog.

The ride by Borel was totally epic anyway.

He had him back so far behind the next to last horse early on that even the mud kicked up probably couldn't reach him.

Or you can say we were denied a possibly memorable finish by some sh*t horse from New Mexico who rode the bias and the smartest jockey on the track to a win. What's worse a slow race on off going with a fun finish or some horse that no one could identify who won by six or seven lengths?

I sent DrugS my last black and white photo w/autograph. So if this is your way of asking for one, you'll have to wait until after the Preakness.

that win never happens if Borel doesn't take him back and separate from the field. it's gutsy to fall back into what looks like a hopelessly beaten position, but sometimes its the right thing to do. how he manages to find a clear rail path is impressive.

What bias....one that helped overmatched horses?

i agree with that. i was more excited about game one between the caps/pens then i was about the race.

Anyone that mentions a bias as the reason this horse won should never be allowed to watch a race again. Any bias there may have been only added to his margin of victory. He would have won that race had he gone around the grandstand. He was much the best today.

Whoa...don't you know that jockeys have little to nothing to do with the outcome of races???

Because Bill Mott called a POTN a turfer last May when he was barely 2 year olds you just didn't want to see him win. What a loser.

Yes it certainly would have made a huge diff. if Quality Road and Revenge had shown up as they would have certainly had a great effort over that slop.

Potatoes with your sour kraut?

Blame on the Nordic weather god.
jeeezzzz...

How does this work with your prior post?

well I'd say the majority of the time, they have little to do with it, that's its mainly the horse. but a certain percentage of the time they can make a huge difference.

:tro:

Mediocities? you gotta be jokin. Mine that Bird is "one hit wonder". you watch .. three horses behind are not. talk to me after he preakness.

And oh hell yes this race was the nail in the
coffin proving that POTN cannot run on dirt.

Righto.

Somebody at DRF better edit Beyer's chat transcript from the other day...whoops!

You loved the winner?

Come on.....everyone mocked his chances.

POTN is a plodder

Perhaps Beyer shouldn't even waste his time "Chatting"

a rich plodder close to 2 million i think,

My main bet was the 19 to win, but I did have a $10 6-8 exacta box as a flyer...who would have thought that it would be the six that would be nowhere to be found at the finish...so yeah, I'm a dumb *ss :)

Where did you buy that 6-8 exacta tix? the same place that Jack buys his magic beans?

Yes.
It was terribly clear today.
That course totally exposed him.
:rolleyes:

The horse may not be worth a damn on
dirt. But if you learned something about
his dirt abilities today, please share.

I did not learn anything about his ability on dirt, but he is just a slow horse that looks good on synthetic track. I hope he goes to the preakness, so he can take money.

Please don't quote Pgarden....it completely defeats the purpose of the " iggy " button.

Surely I'm one of many here that share that sentiment.

that will win some more races. The Derby winner might not.

How did you figure he will not take to dirt?
He beat Revenge twice on syn.
Do you have a prior post expressing that you knew
Revenge would take very well to dirt before he actually
ran on it? And that you could tell Pioneer would not?

Poor Jon White. His triple crown dream for POTN is gone. Thank god we won't have to listen to any of his nonsense anymore. I was so damn happy that POTN didn't win. One can only take so much of Baffert sticking his kid in front of every tv camera available.

Obviously nobody on this planet picked the winner...I looked right past him in the pp's....but hell...it's not like he barely won.....he smoked the field today...he deserves some credit. Plus his trainer is a riot....loved him basically telling the dude on NBC to go fu#k off at the end of the interview.

LOL, no...I'm really a win bettor & I don't bet favorites to win in the derby. Like I said, I went with Desert Party this year, which was obviously wrong. I decided I would play a few bomb exacta combinations with the favorite just in case, and that was one of them. Doesn't much matter though, it was a loser :(

It's not about Jon White. He has earned the right to have a strong opinion and he was hardly embarrassed today.

The bottom line is that Hold That Bird saved us from enduring a lot of falsehoods about what would have been a dramatically misunderstood result.

But couldn't you have made more money betting against POTN in the Preakness if he had won today?

In order to make money you have to pick the winner.

Too damn funny....Hold that bird......Mine that bird....whatever.


Jon White's reasoning on tv was a bit much......he would have been ridiculous if POTN won....that's what I was implying.

Don't I know it. I've found that is the biggest reason I haven't been making any money recently.
This was my best Derby in years....because I didn't bet it.

HEY! Don't knock New Mexico. I live here & it IS in the United States.

The problem was that we handicapped like professionals & didn't use the twinza angle. When 2 horses in the race have similar names (Summer Bird, Mine That Bird), one will be in the money.
I forgot about that!

I bet Hold Me Back & Musket Man, & used Pioneer & Papa Clem, did not use FF or the winner.
Oh well

I wonder how much, if any, respect, MTB will get in the Preakness. Musket Man did prove himself to be a solid performer, as did POTN

What if one of the more "logical" horses had won this race, the same way as Mine that Bird did? I'm talking about one of the 3 superstars (Friesan Fire, Pioneer and the allowance winner Dunkirk). What if their jockey made the same move as Borel did and won as emphatically?

Would we be hearing a bunch of whining and ridiculing or rather talk of the first triple crown winner in 30+ years looming?

I'm not sure what to think. The slowest horse in the history of the Derby pulls off the biggest upset ever, is that good or bad? I'd rather him win than POTN, but it didn't matter, I wasn't even in the right zipcode.

All I do know is Calvin Borel is the king of Churchill- and again, a deserving winning jockey. And I could normally care less who rides.