Steve,
I was watching the NYRA feed and they showed Pal a lot during warmups. I had the feeling something was going on when they showed him warming up I thought Lez was going a little harder and longer than normal
I was actually typing here that I thought Pal was using all his energy and didn't want him using it all in warmups, save some for the race. That explains why Jose went after him on the turn towards the starting gate. Just my observation.