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Originally Posted by Kasept
Kimme.. (and I guess Eajinabi)..
I'm sorry, but you're completely 100% wrong and are missing the important point.. I'm not aware there was a requirement that a horse lead a race at every point of call to be allowed the win. Tiago's fractions aren't presented as important in context of the Santa Anita Derby. They're important in the context of how he projects to run in the Derby. You look for horses in the Derby that run even SUB :25.0 fractions and can close solidly (<:38.0 is generally a great place to start looking for contenders). Running 5 quarter miles of :24.2 equals 10f in 2:02.0 and that wins most Derbies. Tiago's splits and SUB :37.0 closing time Saturday protend very well for Derby success.
As for the horses who did the heavy lifting in the Santa Anita Derby, they don't hand out any particular special awards for that. Black Seventeen and Liquidity did not run "better races" than Tiago Saturday. Sam P. was too close to the pace and is a better horse than he demonstrated. King of the Roxy, who isn't running in the Derby based on his performance Saturday, is a courageous overachiever who ran a winning race at 8.5f. Unfortunately, they've been running the Santa Anita Derby at 9f for a number of years.
Is Tiago a Derby lock? No.. But in the hands of Shirreffs, off that effort Saturday and with four weeks to fine tune, if you don't think Tiago can win May 5th, you're mistaken.
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As much as it pains me to point it out -- Cowtown Cat came home in 37.3 at Hawthorne Saturday, too. He obviously was allowed to loaf through the early stages, but at least he came home well too. (EDIT: Just watched the race again, and Jara wasn't all over him either. Urging him along and took to him with the whip a bit, but wasn't all out aboard him in any sense late)