Perfect Trip Picture Thread
 

Some pictures of textbook perfect trips from races on the '08 Derby Trail....


Style of Perfect Trip: Uncontested lead through soft pace





Rich Young Ruler - at 112/1 odds - somehow found himself loose on an uncontested lead in one of the absolute slowest pace Derby preps in history. He was still beaten 5 lengths by winner Pyro, and finished 2 lengths behind next out Gotham winner Visionaire.

Next time out, Rich Young Ruler ran in an N1X alw race at OP and was bet to 9/5 favortisim. He was sent, but still not quite fast enough to get the lead in this spot, he finished 7th beaten 40 lengths and earned a 10 Beyer.





War Pass makes an uncontested early lead through very slow fractions in his ALW win. He wins easily. Next time out he has some early trouble and is denied the lead for the first time in the Tampa Derby. He finishes last by many at 1/20 odds.

Style of Perfect Trip: Isolated 4th while rating off of a 3-way pace battle

One of the more famous instances of this trip happened in the '96 Pacific Classic. The mighty trio of Siphon, Dramatic Gold, and Cigar (on a 16 race win streak) hooked up in a 3-way pace duel through very fast fractions - while the wildly inferior Dare And Go was placed perfectly by Solis.



Dare And Go never won again - his 116 Beyer that day regressing to 105, and 92 in his next two starts.

As for the three duelers, Cigar (beaten 3.5) won the Woodward easily next out. Siphon (beaten 10.5) was layed off, won an alw in his very next start over that years BC Sprint winner, than won the Santa Anita Handicap with a 120 Beyer off that alw race. Dramatic Gold (beaten 18 lengths) won his next start one month later in a Gr 2 stake holding off that years Breeders Cup Classic winner Alphabet Soup. After that win, he shipped East and outdueled Formal Gold with a 5/1 win in the Grade 1 Meadowlands Cup.

As for the '08 Derby Trail.....



El Gato Malo wins the San Rafeal with a monster synthetic route race Beyer of 99. Besides for the huge synthetic fig, EGM won this race in VERY impressive style visually..drawing off under a hand ride to win by daylight. He lossed the Sham Stakes at 1/2 odds next out..his figure dropping 15 points.




Anak Nakal winning a Grade 2 stake...while Halo Najib, Cool Coal Man, and another horse fight it out for the lead. Anak Nakal returned to run horrific races in the Fountain of Youth and Rebel Stakes.

The Big Brown allowance win was knocked in a big way by noted Ragozin Sheet expert John Hardoon - because 'it was taken off the turf, and the 2nd place finisher was 45/1 in five horse field! 45/1 in a five horse field runs 2nd and he's the next Curlin!.. Are you kidding me!?'

Great point Rag guy - but your problem is the 45/1 shot was getting a dream trip - and the horse who obliterated him was taking heat from quick horses through quick fractions.




You have the 8/5 second choice loose and going fast, the 3/5 favorite concerned only about what's in front of him, and the rank outside being hustled to try and keep up with the favorites.

That leaves Majestic Warrior, the only other runner in the race, to mop up the trio of speed sprinters in the stretch and look like the hero.



Style of Perfect Trip: Inside post, ground saving 1st turn, good positon far turn while boxed, gets out smooth. AKA "inside-out trip"

Cool Coal Man's Fountain of Youth win and Autsim Awareness's El Camino win both featured an identical looking trip from start to finish.

I was hoping for a pshop exclusive flying spaghetti monster appearance.

He is making up for getting smoked by that dude about his breeding knowledge.

This is some good stuff right here Doug...

may i say great job, and thank you

what's the point?

For inexperienced fans and fledgling horseplayers, these photo illustrations and accompanying explanations by Doug are outrageously informative. They help someone understand a concept that typically is tough for lightly-experienced fans to grasp. The visual presentation is brilliant.

If you want to understand why the above is a wonderful contribution from D.S., read the Terms of Service. I started this site and manage it with the goal of bringing more fans to the game. The sharing of information and the discussion it generates in a thread like this helps players win and enjoy the game more which is one of the main tenets of DT. (As opposed to threads started with the intent to ridicule specific members.. for example.)

It should also be noted that the bad trip Sierra Sunset (San Rafael) came back to run a couple big ones at OP.

Good Stuff Drugs! Thanks for the info!

Very good stuff.

Impressive Drugs. I'm sure a lot of work went into these.

I'll admit it, I may understand more about racing than the many, but compared to most on here, I don't know crap so I try and read and learn and welcome anything that helps...and this does. I'm sure to some it's basic stuff, but I thought it was a cool post

Thanks for the show & tell, DrugS... very cool. :cool:

DrugS, thanks... outstanding work!

Great stuff. Thank you.

Thanks DrugS. A super presentation about pace in a race. You can see the toll headstrong horses can take on each other battling for the lead.

how come i cant see drugS pics? I have my "show images" thingy checked!

I would very much like to see drugS fine work.