Quote:
|
Originally Posted by SentToStud
Fact is, you can't ride any pure speed horse from the inside the same way you can from an outside post. Doesn't matter if it's at 4/5 or 45-1. If you're outside you can break a half-step slow or choose to lay just off with still a clear path ahead of you. From the inside, no "in-race" options allowed. You either send hard or decide VERY quickly to tug and go around. I doubt TMB would have been good enough to go around Songster that day. I also thought Gomez was indecisive and laying about 1/2 off the top two down the back killed any chance he had. The only other explanation is that TMB just didn't run to his capability that day.
|
This is more or less what I have been trying to say. Yeah Gomez has his share of bad rides like everyone else, but there is no denying the man is immensly talented. I just think this was a case more or circumstance than anything he did. I also think Baffert might have told Gomez to sit, or maybe they both came up with that, like with Behaving Badly, because in watching the replay he obviously takes a hold. I'm with you when you say that for TMB to swing 3 wide he wasn't going to run down Songster, who is a improving quality colt. Lets also not forget that Belmont, as usual on big racing days was a drag strip, and it was very difficult to pass horses. Songster got a perfect trip, and capitalized on it.