134th Preakness Field Close to Set

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by gales0678

what i'm trying to say to lori is this - chantal rode the horse last year in CAD , maybe if a better jockey was on MTB in the WO races he would have even won by more in those races and thus looked better in the form

she a great looking gal , no question about it , but there was a reason that she had to move back to CAD no? was she getting a lot of business down here? there were some pretty crazy rides by her down here at NYRA , i think even some people pointed it out on this board. Did i watch all the races at Wo for MTB no , i can only specualte that maybe she won races because the horse was simply the best , but , maybe another jock would have moved MTB up even more

There are worse riders, but overall, she's a bit of hazard out there. She rode the horse OK at Woodbine. Her ride in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile though was dreadful. The kid in New Mexico rode him lousy too and further darkened any form/potential anyone could possibly have uncovered as a result. He looked like a horse that hadn't progressed a step from 2 to 3.

Had any of us covering the race bothered to ask Borel or Woolley their strategy beforehand, it might have come out that they were changing their approach with him by planning to take back and come with one run. And even knowing that there was still little to go on to bet him as anything more than a super/high five filler.

They sought out Borel as his jock for a reason, as Woolley and Calvin told ATR this week. And I talked extensively with Jerry Hissam, Borel's agent, Monday, and he had some interesting background to add as well. As Baffert said, they had a plan and they got the racetrack and path they needed to execute it and the horse was ready and willing. Amazing really.