Borel
The rail was not dead at CD yesterday -- and the track was wet -- a simple formula for Borel magic going back many years at CD.
He only had two rides all day -- and not a single ride in the Breeders Cup. In his first mount - he finished 2nd at 18/1 on a horse who should have been 180/1. And he easily won a small stakes race with an overbet 5/1 shot with his only other mount.
Jockeys are a tremendously overrated factor (almost a 100% non-factor at this level) -- and Borel is basically a fairly weak sack of oats who does not always audible well in-race (making him average at best at this level) ... but he's the only guy in the entire room who is a true positive difference maker at that track -- so long as they don't Borel proof the inside path. Statistics with sample sizes in the thousands of races going back more than a half dozen years bear that out. He's also done as well in big events at Churchill as he has done in lower class racing -- so the "he can't rise to the situation" BS is obviously not an issue.
Lamest thread of the day candidate? Sure. But after watching replays of yesterdays races ... I think Borel still managed to win the award of 'riding star of the day on dirt' without even having a single ride in a BC event yesterday.
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