FINALLY: a good match up-- the Virginia Derby
 

Once upon a time there'd be plenty of competitive turf races. Now, we settle for the precious few a year.

Sailor's Cap vs. Gio Ponti.

who and who?

Maybe you are just joking, but in case you aren't....

Gio Ponti won the Hill Prince at Belmont with a very nice late move.
Sailor's Cap followed up a good second to Tizdejavu at CD with a very big race in the Colonial Turf Cup where he won by 6+ lengths.

It is an interesting matchup, and I hope they both go to Chicago next and square off with Tizdejavu again in the Secretariat.

Can Gio Ponti get a mile and a quarter off the mile effort? He's by Tale of the Cat. Not the most likely sire of long distance grass runners. Is Sailor's Cap a soft track move-up? I give El Sultry Sun a shot at 10-1 along with Old Man Buck at 5-1. They'll be the ones I play in the back end of my pick 3.

Think I am sticking with Bucky!!

race watchers?
 

worth reading anything into Gio Ponti switching to the left lead late in the hillprince mile?

The CNL Turf Cup was an oddly run race in my opinion.

It was a soft turf course and the front runner who was 7 lengths ahead of the field was leading in times of :51, 1:18, 1:45 so yet he folds real bad and closers cruise on by. Is this common at CNL?

There is not much speed today and looks to be a firm ground. I am looking for Court Vision to change tactics today and take the lead and TRY to hang on.

Do you remember the '06 Colonial Turf Cup with a headstrong horse by the name of Kip Deville?

That's beside the point though. Who knows how quick those fractions really were considering the ground? And that race was all about who could handle the marsh.. Tactics meant very little, IMO.

On another note, I continue to be surprised that Court Vision backers still exist.

Not really a backer of his but with MOTT/Desourmeaux and IEAH as his conncections. 10-1 is not a bad shot to play him. His first shot at turf was on soft and now he has firm. why not?

He's proven to be slow. What difference does it make who owns/trains/rides a proven slow horse? Are they suddenly going to make him fast after all of this time?

Generally if the best case you can make for a horse is that they're owned, trained or ridden by someone successful, (unless they're a first-time starter) that's probably a good indication that the horse sucks.

:confused:

Connections matter a lot when it comes to big money races. There are reasons why the same people win the big races.

Why do they matter so much? What are IEAH/Mott/Desormeaux going to do with Court Vision to suddenly make him fast? It's not as if he just got transferred to Mott. He's had him all along, and the horse is still slow. What difference do the connections make at this point?

I guess people who bet Frost Giant in the Suburban bet him based on his name

Huh??? Nobody bet him. The horse paid $82. Way to answer the question by the way.

Court Vision did finish last did he not? He is damn slow. They should retire him. You were right ATEAM.

He ran fine, better than I thought he would. Your logic is still ass-backwards and you still can't defend the things you say.

My point was the connections won the race. It was not as if he had tremendous class

Really? It had nothing to do with the fact that the field was absolutely terrible? It was entirely IEAH and Dutrow's doing? That's interesting (read: mind-numbingly ignorant) reasoning.

Take a seat my friend. Ran fine my ass!!!! Props to Gomez however for winning. No one can beat gomez one on one.