[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by RollerDoc

I agree. There have been two times that I've watched a race (during my brief history of following races), where I had a bad feeling about my favorite before the starting gate opened.

1. When Barbaro broke through the gate at the Preakness before the official start. Once that happened, you could just sense it wasn't the same Barbaro from two weeks prior. Not to go off topic but it does prompt another question. Has there been any discussion that Barbaro's false start could have led to breaking down? I'm guessing this is a rare occurance?

2. Obviously less tragic, but when Big Brown was coming out from the stable and through the crowd, both Kent D, and Michelle Nivens were putting their finger up to their mouth in hopes the crowd would not be noisy to further rattle Big Brown. His head was was all over the place.

A trend?