Who is 2nd choice

[jpops757]

When will Gomez make his choice? Who has the advantage ? The horse, trainer or owner. Ot the jock? How long will they wait for a commitment? I loved the way they replaced Coa on General Quartere because of his waffling on a choice. Is JR waiting in the wings for Pletcher?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by jpops757

When will Gomez make his choice? Who has the advantage ? The horse, trainer or owner. Ot the jock? How long will they wait for a commitment? I loved the way they replaced Coa on General Quartere because of his waffling on a choice. Is JR waiting in the wings for Pletcher?

i don't see why it matters right now if he decides. having a jock get to know the horse is overblown such as naming smith on stardom bound now so they can 'become aquainted'. jocks get on a horse that they've never seen before all the time. hell, bailey rode arcangues to victory in the bcc and not only didn't know the horse, but couldn't understand the trainers instructions either.
gomez has time, and so do both trainers.

[parsixfarms]

I might be reading things wrong, but if Gomez liked Pioneer of the Nile over Dunkirk, wouldn't he have already said so by now. He (and his agent) are probably waiting to make sure Dunkirk is going to get into the race before committing that way.

I think the real interesting question is who gets the call on POTN (not that I particularly fancy his chances) if Gomez does take the call on Dunkirk. There aren't a lot of great choices on the West Coast, especially with ties to Baffert. While Rosario is open, might Bejarano dump Papa Clem to ride POTN? Of the Eastern jocks, it looks like Prado, Dominguez or Castellano might be available. If somehow Gomez chose POTN over Dunkirk, I'd think Pletcher would name Prado or Dominguez (who rode Bluegrass Cat to a second for Pletcher).

[slotdirt]

gales really doesn't want Quality Road to go, eh?

[gales0678]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

I might be reading things wrong, but if Gomez liked Pioneer of the Nile over Dunkirk, wouldn't he have already said so by now. He (and his agent) are probably waiting to make sure Dunkirk is going to get into the race before committing that way.

I think the real interesting question is who gets the call on POTN (not that I particularly fancy his chances) if Gomez does take the call on Dunkirk. There aren't a lot of great choices on the West Coast, especially with ties to Baffert. While Rosario is open, might Bejarano dump Papa Clem to ride POTN? Of the Eastern jocks, it looks like Prado, Dominguez or Castellano might be available. If somehow Gomez chose POTN over Dunkirk, I'd think Pletcher would name Prado or Dominguez (who rode Bluegrass Cat to a second for Pletcher).

i agree with what you say , if garett was going to ride POTN he would already have comitted. At this point i don't see how Dunkirk doesn't get in. My guess is that Bafferet may have already spoken to Angel and might know the JV could be come availble and that's why he isn't pushing Garett to commit at this point. If Gomez rides POTN , my guess is that Prado will get to ride Dunkikr in the derby , but, at this point this is a lot of speculation

[pweizer]

Why would he have already committed? Anything can happen to either one of these horses. The longer he keeps his options open, the more likely he is to get the best horse. So long as neither trainer is demanding a choice, why make one? What is the advantage?

Paul

[gales0678]

Originally Posted by pweizer

Why would he have already committed? Anything can happen to either one of these horses. The longer he keeps his options open, the more likely he is to get the best horse. So long as neither trainer is demanding a choice, why make one? What is the advantage?

Paul

well we have to see if officaly dunkirk gets in after this weekend's races 1st i beleive and my guess is that bafferet is not pushing him to committ because bob has a pretty stong plan B , let's see what happens after the weekend stakes races and where dunkirk will offically end up on the list

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by pweizer

Why would he have already committed? Anything can happen to either one of these horses. The longer he keeps his options open, the more likely he is to get the best horse. So long as neither trainer is demanding a choice, why make one? What is the advantage?

Paul

i agree.

[gales0678]

Originally Posted by jpops757

When will Gomez make his choice? Who has the advantage ? The horse, trainer or owner. Ot the jock? How long will they wait for a commitment? I loved the way they replaced Coa on General Quartere because of his waffling on a choice. Is JR waiting in the wings for Pletcher?

let's see when QR works agains what happens , to me Garett could wind up choosing Dunkirk and JV could maybe end up on POTN if QR can't go - let's see how it plays out

[lemoncrush]

I don't have any firsthand knowledge about everything that goes into the negotiations and decisions regarding derby mounts.
Clearly Gomez and his agent want to be on the best horse.

But how much of his decisions depends on loyalty to one camp or the other. Not just Pletcher, but to Coolmore and Tabor, rather than to Zayat?