Dead Rail

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by philcski

I agree with this, if anything the track was very tiring and not kind to speed... which means the firster that won the maiden race for Baffert might actually be as good as advertised on the toteboard, and also Shackleford should be upgraded going forward.

For what it's worth I bet St. John's River and thought Rosie gave her a great ride, especially considering the horse took a right turn out of the gate and spotted the field a couple lengths. Whether or not riding the potentially dead rail till midstretch cost her a victory is certainly questionable but I'd say it didn't.

I agree 100% about Rosie's ride, in pre-race interview she said her instructions were to get to the rail as quick as possible and go from there...she looked like Borel the way she road the rail then split horses and came late, very unlucky not to win the Oaks. In the same interview Friday and one Saturday, she said her instructions on Pants on Fire was to get good position and stay 4-5 back, exactly what she did. Unfortunately, she had no horse in the stretch. I'm really high on her, at 23 she's really coming into her own (first female jock to win riding title at Fair Grounds this year), and I've yet to see her give a poor ride.