[SOREHOOF]

Originally Posted by Samarta

Now I'm probably not going to provide an explanation at the level that a lot of people on here will, but here are my thoughts.

When there is no upfront pace as was the case in the Bluegrass today, all the horses are sitting on a full tank at the turn for home. End result was a lot of bumping and a 5 horse photo. When a horse is a good closer it can cruise along just off the lead or even way back and still have plenty left in reserve, so when they hit the top of the stretch, they have everything left where as the earlier leaders have used up all their energy. Good closing speed is what makes the difference in longer races.

As far as pace vs speed and here I'm reaching for a definition, but pace as I know it is cruising speed. If a horse can go 22/23 quarters and 46/47 halves with little effort they have good pace. It's the horse that goes 23/24 and 47/48 but can create their position when a jockey asks them for more, it literally looks like they pushed a button and the horse took off. One place where this is a prime example is the '04 Derby going up the backside into the turn, Mike Smith on Lion Heart tried to steal the race going into the turn and if you watched the replay, it is focused in on Lion Heart and Smarty Jones and Lion Heart gets about a 3 length lead and all of a sudden it looks like Smarty was shot out of a cannon and next thing you know they are even. That is what I would consider an example of speed. When a horse can simply turn it on when asked.

Like I said, not technical definitions, but hope it helps.

Street Sense should have blown by these. Or Toof should have wired them. Curlin wins the Derby on paper by default!