2008 Kentucky Derby follow up questions

[RollerDoc]

Originally Posted by Soaring Softly

Quoted from Jay Hovdey's piece in Sunday's DRF:

"Big Brown is as good a 3-year-old champion as we've seen in the last decade."

And, though he wasn't named Champion, there was Barbaro(2006). Big Brown might stand on his tip-toes and punch Barbaro in the knee!

In Barbaro's Kentucky Derby, the field seemed to be strong with contenders like Jazil, Sinister Minister, Sharp Humor, Sweetnorthernsaint, Bluegrass Cat, Lawyer Ron, and Brother Derek. Perhaps I've missed some others.

Barbaro's victory after watching again was more impressive than Big Brown's victory from the stretch to the wire. I still might argue that Big Brown positioning himself to the stretch from post 20 vs. Barbaro doing it from post 8 is worthy of my continued discussion here. In that hypothetical scenario, I am fairly sure Barbaro would have beaten Big Brown by 2 - 2/12 lengths. If Big Brown was in the 9 post, I think he has a chance to make this an incredibly close race.

Regardless of my comments above, I do have another question in reference to the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Why weren't Discreet Cat or Bernardini entered in that race? If they were, that field would have been completely loaded.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by RollerDoc

In Barbaro's Kentucky Derby, the field seemed to be strong with contenders like Jazil, Sinister Minister, Sharp Humor, Sweetnorthernsaint, Bluegrass Cat, Lawyer Ron, and Brother Derek. Perhaps I've missed some others.

Barbaro's victory after watching again was more impressive than Big Brown's victory from the stretch to the wire. I still might argue that Big Brown positioning himself to the stretch from post 20 vs. Barbaro doing it from post 8 is worthy of my continued discussion here. In that hypothetical scenario, I am fairly sure Barbaro would have beaten Big Brown by 2 - 2/12 lengths. If Big Brown was in the 9 post, I think he has a chance to make this an incredibly close race.

Regardless of my comments above, I do have another question in reference to the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Why weren't Discreet Cat or Bernardini entered in that race? If they were, that field would have been completely loaded.

bernardini was very lightly raced at that point, the preakness was only his fourth (or maybe fifth?) lifetime start i believe. he was under everyone's radar until the withers. even had they wanted to run in the derby, he wouldn't have had the earnings to get in the gate.

[Suffolk Shippers]

Originally Posted by RollerDoc

I am seeking some responses as to why I feel Big Brown's victory in the 2008 Kentucky Derby was not celebrated nearly as much as his accomplishment deserves to be. I have watched this race now over 100 times and please tell me what i am missing.

My take:

I saw an incredible horse run from the 20th post, (in the most storied horse race) including positioning himself through the cavalry charge, FIVE WIDE on two turns, and at the top of the stretch he shot like a rocket to win by nearly five lengths. Say what you want about the arguably weaker competition (than past years), but please tell me why this was not a victory for the ages considering the degree of difficulty of the chemistry of this race, and the post position he had to overcome, not to mention the margin of victory?

I honestly do respect the opinions on this board. I am just looking for comments based on this one race. Let's leave out all of the owner/trainer/jockey/other races and just discuss my questions above.
Thanks...and if you haven't seen this race in a while, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi9H_G4ztIU

Great horse, but WAY too much baggage to look past. Is it the horses fault? No. But you cannot just dismiss it as to why the horse doesn't get the acclaim you think it deserves.

BB's win in the Derby was stellar, from the 20. But is it any more impressive or more history defying that a NY bred gelding winning it? Or a horse coming in off a five week lay off? My point is, all horses have sh*t to overcome when they leave the gate, whether they are running in the Derby or in some $5,000 N1Y claimer at Penn National.

Not to mention, BB was what, 2-1? 5-2? He WAS SUPPOSED TO DO WHAT HE DID. He set the bar high, people bought in, and he met those expectations. That's great, but when the money was on the table BB really spit the bit. He wasn't going to get high praise and recognition without winning the Triple Crown.

For two reasons, I think. A) Again, way too much baggage to just gloss over and move past. B) The American public, and racing fans have seen numerous horses rise up, win the Derby, win the Preakness and then not come through in the Belmont. Going 2 for 3 is now old hat. Not that it's unimpressive, because it is...but it's a lot like those triple lutzs in figure skating...at first, it was new, shiny, WOW type of thing, but now, it happens a lot and it's not as impressive.

BB was a great horse, but it's time to move on.