belmont thoughts...the day after

[richard burch]

1. as people are looking for reasons why big brown dissappointed the public here are some observations. to my knowledge he wasn't hurt so to put it simply, he bounced. he won 5 in a row and it was time.

2. in hindsight kent d. did not help matters when he restrained big brown for the first 1/4 of a mile. i believe big brown never recovered from that. i understand the conventional wisdom of "you cant run a mile and a half on the lead, but that is exactly what da'tara did. clearly big brown wanted the lead from the start. had kent let him go he might have won by 10 lengths.

3. i dont think the lack of the steroid shot or the 1/4 crack in his hoof had anything to do with his loss, but the heat may have sapped his energy to come back after a strenuous start. (see above)

4. where were the closers? clearly there were better horses than da'tara and they didn't show up! i think the other jockeys were so worried about what big brown was doing that when they saw him pull up they became confused as to what to do next and that allowed da'tara to pull away. remember that da'tara was the only one who couldn't see what was going on behind him.

5. oh well, theres always next year.

[fpsoxfan]

Originally Posted by richard burch

1. as people are looking for reasons why big brown dissappointed the public here are some observations. to my knowledge he wasn't hurt so to put it simply, he bounced. he won 5 in a row and it was time.

2. in hindsight kent d. did not help matters when he restrained big brown for the first 1/4 of a mile. i believe big brown never recovered from that. i understand the conventional wisdom of "you cant run a mile and a half on the lead, but that is exactly what da'tara did. clearly big brown wanted the lead from the start. had kent let him go he might have won by 10 lengths.

3. i dont think the lack of the steroid shot or the 1/4 crack in his hoof had anything to do with his loss, but the heat may have sapped his energy to come back after a strenuous start. (see above)

4. where were the closers? clearly there were better horses than da'tara and they didn't show up! i think the other jockeys were so worried about what big brown was doing that when they saw him pull up they became confused as to what to do next and that allowed da'tara to pull away. remember that da'tara was the only one who couldn't see what was going on behind him.

5. oh well, theres always next year.

I agree on all 5 points.