Denis of Cork <96 BSF>

Excuse my ignorance:

Why is Albarado on and not Calvin?
And Albarado is not on Sacred Journey...

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Excuse my ignorance:

Why is Albarado on and not Calvin?
And Albarado is not on Sacred Journey...

http://www.drf.com/news/article/92261.html

http://www.oaklawn.com/NotesQuotesArchive.aspx?Id=17

[dylbert]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Excuse my ignorance:

Why is Albarado on and not Calvin?
And Albarado is not on Sacred Journey...

Calvin "Boo" Borel kept his mount from Delta Jackpot, Turf War, in lieu of Denis of Cork ride. Both horses should do well tomorrow.

I attended Jackpot and Turf War closed like runaway freight train in dead heat with Z Humor. So far, none of the Jackpot horses have run well. Z Humor did not take kindly to Tampa Bay Downs' surface in Sam F. Davis Stakes yesterday.

Denis of Cork has looked visually impressive in his efforts. Southwest Stakes finally gets deserved Grade 3 status and may have drawn better field than some Grade I or II races on this year's Derby Trail.

Good luck tomorrow...

Thanks both.
I completely forgot about Borel
making this decision. Old age.

It is interesting how often jockies
make these decisions and get on
the back of the loser.
We will see.
Should be an interesting race.
I look foward to the replay.

[pick4]

I wagered on Denis Of Cork when he ran on 1/19 and I recall that it looked like he was going to blow by the field and win by open lengths but he hung and barely won. I hope I'm correct in my accessment of this colt. I'd like to see a more aggresive finish. In his defense he ran the entire race four wide until he was in the stretch when he was in the three path.

Poor Calvin.

Wrong train.

Good job pik4

[wac]

I was at work so did not get to see this race but i have a small future bet on "cork" and was wondering what was the visual impression of the race? From looking at drf charts it looks like track was playing to closers so im wondering if it was a race to be excited. I was also surprised to see this horse go off at almost 5-1 with all the "buzz" about him.

Originally Posted by wac

I was at work so did not get to see this race but i have a small future bet on "cork" and was wondering what was the visual impression of the race? From looking at drf charts it looks like track was playing to closers so im wondering if it was a race to be excited. I was also surprised to see this horse go off at almost 5-1 with all the "buzz" about him.

Race set up very well for Cork.
The pacesetter Sacred, put up unmanigable
fractions and was followed. Cork showed the
ability to stay in striking range by the turn home as Sacred
collapsed and won easily.
The race set up for other horses as well, so I would
be happy if I had this horse.

[wac]

Thanks pgardn, i know its a long way till KD but i would like to have something to get excited about as we get closer. I have future bets on blackberry road, colonel john, dennis of cork, monba and zhumor. not looking that good but you never know it sure makes watching the races more exciting.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

Here's the replay in case you haven't seen it yet. he ran a good race. If he can continue to improve he's got a good shot IMO.

http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/videos/579

I guess he probably does have a good shot, because....well because....this crop STILL doesn't appear to be particulary deep or strong at this point.
But for a horse with his style - and given the pace of the race, and the trip he had - it didn't look to me like he was moving very fast down the stretch. What was his time for final 1/4? It couldn't have been particularly fast.
The horse on the lead was completely cooked, and while Denis went by him, he didn't seem to have a lot left.
I really don't know what to think of any of these 3yos. Who knows...maybe the colt from Peru will win this year's Kentucky Derby.

[horseofcourse]

Originally Posted by miraja2

I guess he probably does have a good shot, because....well because....this crop STILL doesn't appear to be particulary deep or strong at this point.
But for a horse with his style - and given the pace of the race, and the trip he had - it didn't look to me like he was moving very fast down the stretch. What was his time for final 1/4? It couldn't have been particularly fast.
The horse on the lead was completely cooked, and while Denis went by him, he didn't seem to have a lot left.
I really don't know what to think of any of these 3yos. Who knows...maybe the colt from Peru will win this year's Kentucky Derby.

I don't know what his final quarter was. You guys can figure it out I guess. 6f was run in 1:10.83 and the final time was 1:37.59. Denis of Cork was 9 lengths back at the 6f mark. So those that know how to figure that out can figure out how fast he ran his final quarter. In my opinion, I thought his race was every bit as impressive as Pyro in the Risen Star...and most likely more so.

[TitanSooner]

24 and 4/5

[free25]

Officially, this is my derby horse.... I love small stables like Dave Caroll who can pay attention to their horses. In my humble opinion, this is why Todd Pletcher has struggled in the big ones. Love him, but attention to detail rules in training......

[Kasept]

Denis of Cork rec'd a 96 BSF for yesterday's Southwest effort..

Those that are wanting to embrace David Carroll's exciting colt should not be concerned about the 'finishing kick/closing times' as Oaklawn is a bizarre oval when it comes to this analysis. Remember back to the Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones seasons because the final quarters have frequently seemed slow in this series. Randy Moss discovered years ago that the stretch at Hot Springs runs slightly uphill, and then there's the matter of the short stretch.

The ease with which Denis of Cork won this race is was what was impressive. It was very similar to his debut win. Albarado, who is also committed to stablemate Blackberry Road, suits this horse very nicely. Those that want to think the race 'set up' for Denis of Cork should appreciate that it set up for the rest of the off pace types and they didn't come close. Denis was able to maintain a semblance of contact with the 4 winging ahead of him in the first half of the race, and then had the where with all to run them down.

There are few candidates out there on the Derby Trail as appealing as this colt. The connections are exceedingly embraceable with David Carroll, Easy Goer's gallop boy, at the head of the team. The owner's, M/M Warren of St. Liam fame, are as gracious as any in the game. Very pleased to see him continue forward...

[justindew]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Denis of Cork rec'd a 96 BSF for yesterday's Southwest effort..

Those that are wanting to embrace David Carroll's exciting colt should not be concerned about the 'finishing kick/closing times' as Oaklawn is a bizarre oval when it comes to this analysis. Remember back to the Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones seasons because the final quarters have frequently seemed slow in this series. Randy Moss discovered years ago that the stretch at Hot Springs runs slightly uphill, and then there's the matter of the short stretch.

The ease with which Denis of Cork won this race is was what was impressive. It was very similar to his debut win. Albarado, who is also committed to stablemate Blackberry Road, suits this horse very nicely. Those that want to think the race 'set up' for Denis of Cork should appreciate that it set up for the rest of the off pace types and they didn't come close. Denis was able to maintain a semblance of contact with the 4 winging ahead of him in the first half of the race, and then had the where with all to run them down.

There are few candidates out there on the Derby Trail as appealing as this colt. The connections are exceedingly embraceable with David Carroll, Easy Goer's gallop boy, at the head of the team. The owner's, M/M Warren of St. Liam fame, are as gracious as any in the game. Very pleased to see him continue forward...

Solid effort, but would you agree that the runner-up is no world-beater? He's probably in the lower tier of West Coast Derby hopefuls.

[Kasept]

Considering that most seemed to like the quality of the field coming in, how does this get brought up after the fact? What does West Coast lower tier mean and what's the difference anyway? He was within a length or so of Colonel John in the Cash Call and beaten 3L for everything there... He couldn't keep up in the San Rafael, but stayed on nicely yesterday getting back on dirt for the first time since September as a 2yo. With moves to and from the synthetic surfaces, it's hard to know what any of the California based horses actually are.

I recall that when Denis beat Unbridled Vicar in the FG ALW we heard the same song. Unbridled Vicar came back and ran very nicely though in the Risen Star, no?

I'd say it's much more significant that Denis of Cork continues to do anything required of him to win despite spotting experience each time he's run.

[justindew]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Considering that most seemed to like the quality of the field coming in, how does this get brought up after the fact? What does West Coast lower tier mean and what's the difference anyway? He was within a length or so of Colonel John in the Cash Call and beaten 3L for everything there... He couldn't keep up in the San Rafael, but stayed on nicely yesterday getting back on dirt for the first time since September as a 2yo. With moves to and from the synthetic surfaces, it's hard to know what any of the California based horses actually are.

I recall that when Denis beat Unbridled Vicar in the FG ALW we heard the same song. Unbridled Vicar came back and ran very nicely though in the Risen Star, no?

I'd say it's much more significant that Denis of Cork continues to do anything required of him to win despite spotting experience each time he's run.

I never said I liked the field. I have always thought Turf War was a phony. And I can't believe that Lukas horse wasn't 15-1. I bet Sacred Journey because he was 14-1 at the time, and then he went off at 9-1. Dagger!

I guess by "West Coast lower tier", I mean I can probably name 15 Derby hopefuls in California who are better than Sierra Sunset. And Massive Drama isn't even one of them becasue he isn't in CA anymore.

Don't get me wrong. Sierra Sunset looked great against three foes at Bay Meadows in that September race you mentioned. But I think the jury is still out on Denis of Cork. All things being equal, I doubt he would be among the top four betting interests in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday, and I doubt he would hit the board.

[justindew]

....also, weren't there like 18 horses within 3 lengths of the Cash Call winner?

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

You're right about the first part, but I'm not so sure about the second. Who are the killers in there? Court Vision? Monba? You can have them both. Adriano's a turf horse. I'm really high on Elysium Fields, but he's just a maiden winner. And then you have Zito's pair.

Make the Point.. from KMc there too.

[mes5107]

Originally Posted by wac

I was at work so did not get to see this race but i have a small future bet on "cork" and was wondering what was the visual impression of the race? From looking at drf charts it looks like track was playing to closers so im wondering if it was a race to be excited. I was also surprised to see this horse go off at almost 5-1 with all the "buzz" about him.

I kind of got the opposite from looking at the charts. Most of the horses that seemed to close were good horses and were expected to do so. I thought a lot of the longshots seemed to hang on more than they should have.

Of course Sacred Journey put up crazy fractions in this race with no pressure from behind, so the race was not going to go his way, but he did still hang for third.