Grand Escape was beaten by like 4 lengths with a golden trip.....he wasn't fast enough to win the race with his best IMO, while Asmussen's horse was and so was Go Bucky Go.....again, you get steam on horses and have to process it with other variables you know and come to a conclusion based on your convistions and instincts....I didn't think Grand Escape could win the race and he didn't....

Hell, I almost didn't use Bright Hall but am glad I did when he paid $12.80 because he was being touted like mad, however the person who was touting him is one who I normally will disregard because I haven't had much luck with touts from that barn....

It is what it is, man...you get LOADS of steam after knowing people in this business and being around the track and you have to know how to process it. When I hear of a horse who has never run and has slow works and a no-name jockey on his back - like Corporal - and he goes off at 23-1, I'll take SERIOUS notice on that steam....Grand Escape in a tough field at a fraction of the price doesn't appeal to me.....sorry

Oh, and watch out stereotyping the Ass-man's fleet as a big operation that is only good in the claim game and with babies.....now that he finally has an owner who will spend some cash (Jess Jackson) he is getting some VERY nice and expensive horse flesh - plenty good enough to win at Keeneland. Hell, he has a leading Derby candidate right now in Tiz Wonderful and even before that he had SEVERAL graded stakes winners over the last 5 years or so......its not like he trains a bunch of crippled claimers....he has quality too...

A year or two ago his biggest owner was Mr. Heiligbrodt but that guy only spent up to $180K or so for a horse, which was stepping out for him - and Steve picked out some very nice horses for bargain prices... he did the same for Mr. McCarty last year....Now he has the wallet to go deep in the sales and he has horses like Napa Cat, Kuaui Calls, Tiz Wonderful, etc. to show for it....

Also, he has won Keeneland training titles before - so I guess that dispells the myth that he can't win races at that track....I believe the reason that most of his horses didn't fire big there this past meet is because he trains so much speed into them and speed was NOT the tactic that you wanted to have if you were going to win races last month in Lexington......and yes, MOST of his horses failed to run as well as they expected at KEE last month....whether the number was 90% or 83% or 96.237% - I don't know...I didn't mean it that literally....