Best and Worst Ride in the BC

[parsixfarms]

Best: Mike Smith on Royal Delta.

Worst: Mike Smith on Atigun.

[cakes44]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

Best: Mike Smith on Royal Delta.

Worst: Mike Smith on Atigun.

I guess I don't know what was so great about Smith's ride on Royal Delta. He was on clearly the best horse in the race, so he gunned her so he could keep her out of trouble at all costs. Would Smith have taken back if Questing actually ran? I don't know, but I doubt it(see Bodemeister in KD).

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by cakes44

I guess I don't know what was so great about Smith's ride on Royal Delta. He was on clearly the best horse in the race, so he gunned her so he could keep her out of trouble at all costs. Would Smith have taken back if Questing actually ran? I don't know, but I doubt it(see Bodemeister in KD).

He was on the best horse in the race and rode her like it. Too often, it seems like the rider on the best horse clutches and grabs, and then goes three or four wide to "stay out of trouble." By riding her aggressively, he also put Royal Delta on what was arguably the best part of the track.

[banter]

Castellano gave a standout ride in the Filly & Mare Turf, keeping The Fugue and William Buick pinned on the rail and then timing Ventura's final burst of speed just right.

Ryan Moore on George Vancouver showed a lot of grit splitting horses like he did. Kudos.

Bad rides included Valenzuela on Merit Man, Talamo on Jaycito, and Bejarano on all but Animal Kingdom. Valenzuela's ride had to be the worst.

[PatCummings]

How about the consistency of Little Mike's performance?

Here are the gaps between the slowest and fastest six 1/4-mile sectionals run by each horse in the race:

Little Mike - 0.98
Point of Entry - 2.12
St. Nicholas Abbey - 1.98
Trailblazer - 1.46
Shareta - 2.23
Kindergarden Kid - 2.09
Cogito - 2.38
Slim Shadey - 2.08
Dullahan - 1.86
Treasure Beach - 1.62
Optimizer - 1.70
Turbo Compressor - 2.43

The gap between Little Mike's fastest and slowest quarter miles was less than a second (his second quarter was fastest and his fourth quarter was slowest). Overall, his sectionals were...

24.00
23.14
24.07
24.12
24.10
23.20

At no point during the race did any two consecutive 1/4 mile segments ever accumulate to being the fastest in the race. He got a great ride, and you can truly say Ramon rationed his speed as well as anyone possibly could. This horse has cost me at least $5, maybe $10k this year, but I have overwhelming respect for him.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by banter

Castellano gave a standout ride in the Filly & Mare Turf, keeping The Fugue and William Buick pinned on the rail and then timing Ventura's final burst of speed just right.

Ryan Moore on George Vancouver showed a lot of grit splitting horses like he did. Kudos.

Bad rides included Valenzuela on Merit Man, Talamo on Jaycito, and Bejarano on all but Animal Kingdom. Valenzuela's ride had to be the worst.

Yea, Ventura ran a monster race to win.