Any Given Saturday
 

Solid performance today over a field of nobodys. He does not look like a Derby-winning type horse to me, but he should be a competitive factor in the major preps this spring.

well, that's good--just put him in my rttr a couple hours ago...

Considering he probably wasn't fully cranked I think they got exactly what they were looking for. Johnny didn't even think about even showing him the stick either.

While far from being super impressive today, he's clearly a Derby horse in my opinion.

He's probably a nice horse, and maybe he will step forward, but don't kid yourselves about today's effort as it was VERY pedestrian. Take a good look at the pps of the second finisher.....as well as the rest of the field. It was a ridiculous bunch.

One could say similar of Bluegrass Cat last year at Tampa, and he lost to a poor group....Did come back to finish second in the Derby.

I don't much about this horse or the field.

What struck me, in watching the replay, was that JV wasn't tempted to even move the whip (let alone, hit the horse with it).

Is he on some kind of 5 step plan?

(What a difference from watching him senslessly pummel BGC the length of the stretch in the Travers.)

The field of last years Sam Davis looks like the 98 Breeders Cup Classic next to this years sad group

What an unreal group that '98 Cup was. Awesome Again was definitely not in my top 3 to win that race.

Take a good look at the pps of the second finisher.....as well as the rest of the field. It was a ridiculous bunch.

Would you expect anything better from Tampa? Remember the year Kaufy Mate beat Cliffs Edge? On a really good day I could have beat some of those horses today.

Pedestrian... And what would you have expected?

This is a Derby prep in Tampa... He ran the race up front, unlike his other races, and finished going away easily, as he has done before. So you wanted a track record?

Derby preps in general are so overrated. I dont understand all the attention they get. I had as much interest in this race as a harness race.

I don't " want " anything. I do, however, like it when people get their facts straight, especially when making some foolish attack towards me. Perhaps you should look at the pps of his last race.....where he was closer to the lead than he was today.

Regardless of what you may want to think, he was unimpressive today. I don't recall it being suggested this performance was a bad sign, or a perfect indication of his ability, but merely a very unremarkable performance by a horse generating a ton of hype.

Sorry if somehow you feel a member of your family was insulted.

Just got in from TBD and have to say that at 1-9 (bought down to 1-5) expected a lot more from him... The field was sad (Last year Deputy Glitters at least showed up @ 40-1) the only horse that looked on paper to be worthy of the field was the 4 ( Monster something...) and He's never seen a mile + in his life...Local fave gets 2nd under Lezcano and puts up a great effort.

saddest moment of the day was Zito trotting out Superfly in a 19k allowance...The horse looked like it needed an ambulance to get to the finish line in the paddock...didn't stop "Tampa Faithful" from sending him off @ 6-5....Obviously never hit the board....

You know I'm not someone who gets all caught up in that sort of thing. Barbaro came into last year's Derby with a pair of wins, by pretty close margins, against claimer bound Great Point, and the unspectacular NY Bred Sharp Humor.

I do realize the 2nd place finisher is a complete and utter dog bisucit--and even a lot less of a horse than GP and SH...however, he had every circumstance known to man going in his favor, against the winner, coming into today's race.

* Before today, the 2nd place finisher had run just twice in his career around two-turns, winning moderate restricted stake races on both occasion. Being by a sire who was 0-for-9 lifetime sprinting, and a millionaire routing, and out of a dam who was a stakes winning router...the added distance and two-turns would figure to enhance his form.

* This horse had three recent races and seven workouts over the Tampa track in preperation for this. The winner hadn't raced in three months, and the 8.5 furlong trip, for a feb 3yo, at a track like Tampa, is a pretty demanding one.

* The 2nd place finisher got an uncontested early lead through VERY comfortable fractions for him. For people who are into sheet ideology, he also got 6lbs, and saved two paths of ground on both turns. He really did have a great trip.

The 3 length margin of victory is pretty decpetive....as the winner is VASTLY superior to the runner-up.

A lot of Any Given Saturday's appeal as a Derby horse, IMO, comes from the fact that he's a true grinding type, who can flash a little tactical speed if he needs to.

Ouch. A little touchy in the membership. Has somebody been attacking this poster? And then to get into family????

Why dont you watch his race and Keeneland and get back with me. You can pick any race you want as representative. I think the Keeneland race is how the horse will run.

And again I ask, what did YOU want to see if he was unimpressive?

I wasnt attacking anyone, just laughing at the quality that we've seen from Tampa preps. Its a track where horses either love or hate it. Hard to gauge a horse's talent from any race run on it. Deputy Glitters looked like a rocketship on it last year and he never amounted to much. Toy track.

Not a track record, but certainly more than the 88 beyer he's goning to get for that laughfest...

88 Beyer and he was never even shown the whip. Hand ridden... he was trotting at the end. Pretty much the kind of effort I would want for an early prep against a weak field.

My favorite kind of poster....somebody who alters other's comments and then twists their response to suit their own desperate needs.

Here is what YOU said...

" He ran the race up front, unlike his other races, and finished going away easily "

I somehow don't think pointing out that he was closer in his previous effort, especially as that was far and away his best effort, was particularly unreasonable.

Once again, however, I gave my opinion of his performance today. Just because you have some need to attack me doesn't mean I need to further my comments to suit your needs. If you don't like my opinions feel free to put me on ignore. I happen to find it curious that in spite of the fact that others said similar things to me it was me that you chose to call out.

Trotting at the end?!! I was at the finish line, dude...He had all he could handle from a local yokel that's not even on the DT...If you need the chart, here:

http://www.drf.com/drfPDFChartRacesI...TAM0217100.pdf

I'm not sh1tin' on the horse, it's just that @ 1-5 and being ranked in the top 10 of derby contenders, he should have shown a hell of a lot more...if he has any heart that is...

Okay I attacked you viciously like a pit bull. I apologize.

I dont think this horse has the kind of early speed to run up front, therefore I will again say I think his effort at Keeneland would be more the type of race he would run against solid derby contenders, but not necessarily that wide.

Now, what would have impressed you in an early prep race at Tampa against a weak field with the idea that you might want the horse to run in a big race in May? Just curious.

YOu were there. So you had a better view. Watch the race replays, dude. You can view them more than once. The race was over way before the finish line... are you serious? Heart? WTF? You want him to set a track record in an early derby prep.in Tampa. These horses have enough trouble making it to the Derby and you want a blow out in an early prep race? I dont need a chart I watched the race, and I just watched it again. The race was over... Heart? How in God's name from that race can you state this horse has no heart?

File this under who cares, get the form out for tomorrow and give some opinions. Nobody cares about Any Given Saturday. It was a terrible movie to boot, Al Pacino's worst performance by far. Pgard, sometimes I think you just like to argue. Must be the physics teacher in you.

I strongly disagree with the poster who thought AGS's KEE race 2nd time out was his best race. His stakes debut was a far better performance.

The last high profile 3yo prospect, to finish his 2yo season in the Kentucky Jockey Club and make his 3yo debut in the Sam Davis was The Cliff's Edge.

He was beaten as the 1/2 favorite in the betting. Two races later, he rallied to win the Blue Grass Stakes with a 111 Beyer, beating eventual Ky Derby 2nd and 4th place finishers Lion Heart and Limehouse. TCE ended up being the morning line favorite for the Derby. However, he was cold on the board, ran 5th, lost his shoes, and I think might have come out of the race with an injury.

I'm not discouraged with AGS's effort today, and still consider him a legit Derby horse. However, I'm also a tad happier I passed up making a future bet on him at the anemic 14/1 odds he closed at last week.

He has no heart because he barely beat a pool of marginal NW1x'ers; most of which had no business in this race..That's why. If you want to see what a champion performs like, watch Bluegrass Cat in last year's SFD...

As I have state numerous times before I like to find out how people view races. So I challenge statements. Thats why I liked Oracles temper Tim. But I understand there is a line of civility.

Bottom line Tim is I dont think the race shows much of anything. It was a good workout at best.

BTW, I hardly ever argue with kids. They are too much fun to joke around with. But I love a good sports "discussion".

To be honest I don't really think that way, but I suppose a more authoritative victory against today's hopelessly overmatched and weak field would have been more meaningful. However, it's 2 1/2 months until the Derby, and surely one thing Pletcher seems to be learning is that blowout early wins by 3YOs don't necessarily aid their development. I guess with the few legitimate Derby contenders he has he will at least try to be patient.

If I actually cared about the Derby at this time, which I honestly don't, he would probably still be in the top ten or so likely contenders. But I certainly wouldn't move him up based on his performance today. Maybe it was just what he needed. Maybe it will set him up perfectly for the future. However, none of that elevates his specific performance today. It simply was nothing to get worked up about. If he wasn't on anybody's Top Ten Derby List, or trained by Todd Pletcher, he would have barely raised a whisper with today's effort.

Let me just go on record...

Any Given Saturday is teh suck.


That is all.

This I can agree with. Especially this far out from the Derby. But I thought this was sort of the fun of it all... Watching the 3 yos change form and develop.

Thats why I liked Oracles temper Tim

Its an acquired taste, thats for sure. Just hassling you Pgard. I care very little about the Derby until the week of.

I guess it is if you are following horses up to the Derby. Personally I am far too preoccupied with the daily minutia at Aqueduct and Gulfstream to worry about a race a week from now....not to mention one months away.

It will certainly be interesting to see a horse from Todd Pletcher incrimentally improve from race to race, and not just explode on the scene and disappear just as quickly, but until it happens I will remain dubious. Of course, the Pletcherization of racing has almost completely irradicated this aspect of the game. It's win and win now baby!

It was so easy to provoke the guy and he would give some very interesting opinions. You went to school with him so I guess that might get tiresome. I enjoy the site when active discussion takes place, even over trivial stuff. I dont have a really nice track like you do, so this is the place I can get some feedback.

I believe the Pletcher factor has hurt his odds a little in the futures.

This horse had run the best losing performance by any 2yo last year, when he was 2nd in his season finale, only Nobiz Like Shobiz's loss in the Champagne can really even be compared with it from that standpoint.

With a different trainer, I highly doubt this horse would have closed as low as the 14/1 he did last week---before even having a single 3yo run under him.

That was the day they also ran the filly 2 year old stake (whatever the name) and every single one of those 2 year old fillies, except the winner, HIT A BRICK WALL when they entered the stretch. I mean, most of them were going a mile for the first time (and hardly any figured to be able to get a mile) BUT I've never seen such stopping (in unison) before.

And then there was NoBIZ, running along on the inside like a good boy until he hit the stretch and started acting like one of those fillies. Spanked by SCAT DADDY, no less.

And now I can put it all together. He didn't run like a sprinter filly trying to get a mile; he ran one of the 2 best losing performances of the year.

He had significant early trouble in that race.

Do you really believe he can't get a mile?

I haven't seen the race in a quite a while. I do recall that he got slammed into (another horse?) out of the gate. I also remember that he had an uneventful inside trip (in my mind) after that point.

Not a question of whether he can get a mile or not. I'm just trying to figure out why he basically collapsed mid to late stretch. And I definitely didn't think that Scat Daddy was much of a horse going into the Champagne.

He was trying to get in while struggling to change in the stretch last out, against a field he dominated. But, once he changed late, he was still trying to get in.

PG,

What I would not like if I was a fan of 'Saturday' was his considerably shortened stride in the stretch.. I may have seen something that isn't there, but to me he did not look good finishing up. And I don't mean under the wire.. I mean when clear midstretch when he should have been at his absolute best. He was not reaching out a lick. That said, Tampa has a very strange surface that doesn't seem to flatter horses visually. I'll have to watch it again.

You may be right. He was being hand ridden in a stern manner, just looked like he knew where the finish line was to me. Maybe JV legs and body told him it over, that is difficult to see. And I really think this horse will have to come from mid pack with the real derby contenders. He does not have the early speed to run up front imo.

That is exactly my summary of the performance, he did not look good today to me in the context of looking for live derby prospects. The stride was short. I did not see a horse with a lot of energy in reserve down the lane. My opinion is that there wasn't a whole lot more there.