Big Truck

Horse has got into trouble before.
He has battled winning and losing.
Ran terrible in the slop at GP.

Today pinched back at the start.
Wide around the first turn, wide on the second turn
bumping down the stretch and the horse almost won.

This is not a lightly raced 3 year old. I was
very impressed with his effort considering the
difficulty today.

Do we dare mention him as a Derby Hopeful?

[letswastemoney]

Yup I see no reason why not to label him a contender.

[The Bid]

No, there wasnt a decent Derby contender in that group, and he isnt either.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by The Bid

No, there wasnt a decent Derby contender in that group, and he isnt either.

Well said. I couldn't agree more although one more for Nick Zito in his 2008 embarassment of riches is OK by me.

NT

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Horse has got into trouble before.
He has battled winning and losing.
Ran terrible in the slop at GP.

Today pinched back at the start.
Wide around the first turn, wide on the second turn
bumping down the stretch and the horse almost won.

This is not a lightly raced 3 year old. I was
very impressed with his effort considering the
difficulty today.

Do we dare mention him as a Derby Hopeful?

Thought the same thing, but apparently few agree. It's not like there are any awesome contenders at this point (besides War Pass and Pyro.)

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

Thought the same thing, but apparently few agree. It's not like there are any awesome contenders at this point (besides War Pass and Pyro.)

It is still very early so its hard to tell.
All conjecture of course.

I just thought he overcame a whole lot
of trouble, ran an extra long race and would
have won at 10f. The effort was very solid.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by pgardn

It is still very early so its hard to tell.
All conjecture of course.

I just thought he overcame a whole lot
of trouble, ran an extra long race and would
have won at 10f. The effort was very solid.

Loved how he galloped out. Perhaps The Bid is right and we didn't see any decent Derby contenders in this field, but if I had to choose one, it would most likely be him.

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

Loved how he galloped out. Perhaps The Bid is right and we didn't see any decent Derby contenders in this field, but if I had to choose one, it would most likely be him.

I am not entirely sure what a decent Derby contender is.
Pyro was amazing with his last 1/4. War Pass obviously has
to be considered. Cowboy Cal lost today on the turf but looked
good. Pletcher says he goes to the Bluegrass but dirt... So I am
not sure about contenders right now.

Its very hard to say oh so and so (not mentioned above) will beat the crap
out of this horse at 10f. For example I personally think the bad cat looks
very nice but going 10f at the pace he runs... heck I dont know.

[hurricanefrank]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

And I guess I just am missing what you guys are seeing in Big Truck. Have you seen his previous races?

Makes two of us. He seems to either find trouble or another horse who's better than him that day.

[Holland Hacker]

I think Big Truck is a "contender" at this point. I saw him run in the Remsen last Fall and was impressed then when he got up to finish Third. I was at the Top of the stretch that day and he totally got stopped at the top of the lane and lost ALL momentum. I'm not saying he was better than Court Vision on that day but in my opinion he ran very well to be third. Check out the photo I took as Big truck got stopped.

http://billtheobaldphotography.smugm...892_zhW45-L-LB

[The Bid]

Court Vision and Big Truck are about the same in regards to the Derby, hopeless.

[Danzig]

big truck= dollar bill.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by The Bid

Court Vision and Big Truck are about the same in regards to the Derby, hopeless.

With the exception of War Pass and Pyro, which horse do you think has a legit shot at this point?

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by pgardn

It is still very early so its hard to tell.
All conjecture of course.

I just thought he overcame a whole lot
of trouble, ran an extra long race and would
have won at 10f. The effort was very solid.

There is absolutley no way to know something like that. If those horses had been running a 10f race yesterday, the race would have looked completely different.
I do not think this horse remotely qualifies as a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender. Tagg is about as sharp as they come and I seriously doubt if he is thinking about that race with this horse.

As for the Dollar Bill comparison, that horse hit the board in five G1 stakes over the course of his career. If Big Truck manages that, I will be more than a little shocked. He looks like a one-turn/minor stakes horse to me.

[miraja2]

Perhaps I am just crazy, but I thought the horse that actually won the race yesterday was more impressive than any of the horses that did not.
HE might be a Kentucky Derby contender. I certainly wouldn't have him ranked in my top ten or fifteen, because I don't think he beat very much, but I would have him rated higher than Big Truck.

[Cajungator26]

I dunno... agree with Dahoss that perhaps I am just grasping onto whatever contender I can. This year's crop is rather boring so far (War Pass excluded.)

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

I dunno... agree with Dahoss that perhaps I am just grasping onto whatever contender I can. This year's crop is rather boring so far (War Pass excluded.)

I agree, but somebody will probably emerge in the next couple of weeks. They usually do.
Perhaps Dennis of Cork - or someone else - will generate some excitement starting tomorrow.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Mentioned this in the Tampa thread in Selections, but may be something to consider - Z Humor looked absolutely horrible in the Paddock - completely washed out, so much so that I even contemplated leaving him off my late P3 ticket - I saw Stuttes, Tagg and Mott in the paddock, but Assmussen must have had bigger fish to fry that day, or I just didn't see him - I simply can't imagine that if he was here, the horse wouldn't have looked so bad

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

I just watched the replay a few times, including the head on. The highlighted part just didn't happen. Watch it again. I suppose he was wide on the first turn although he was actually in the same path as the winner and on the second turn he was 6 wide, compared to the winner being about 5 wide. All things considered his trip wasn't bad at all.

Now this is going to be an odd
thing for me to do but you are
perfectly correct. I just watched
the head on. I had only watched
the normal replay.

No it was not a bad trip but
it was definitely not a good trip.
Backstretch he got shoved out very
wide which is not apparent regular view.

The main thing that I see is that this is
an improvement over his previous races.

So he would not be a contender because
there are only 3 horses that are? Or because
which other horses besides Pyro, War Pass, bad cat
are clearly better?

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

What about Cowboy Cal looked good exactly? And I guess I just am missing what you guys are seeing in Big Truck. Have you seen his previous races? He really isn't much and I really didn't see anything that changes that. I think people are grasping for a contender right now, because there really hasn't been one step up other than the big two from last year and El Gato Malo. And haven't we seen enough good gallop outs to know that you have to take them with a grain of salt?

He led the entire race on grass and was beaten
late. Did not look bad at all to me. But as I said
that is grass and he is going to the Blue Grass
supposedly which will not tell us much.

I really dont care about gallop outs, all they really
show is that a horse is not completely wasted.

So I got the general opinion. Big Truck is mostly
a joke. Got that checked.