Mott playing games with us?

[The Bid]

Smooth Air will be the most honest horse in the Derby. He may not be good enough, and he may not want the 1 1/4, but he will run his eyeballs out everytime hes lead to post. Still hoping for another step up from him but do not think its impossible.

Z Fortune should be named JF Fortune.

Q)Whats the difference between Court Vision with Blinkers and without?

A)About 50 bucks.

Hes still a slow crow.

[To_Close_to_call]

Thanks for entertaining a new guys question!
Well Pyro will be in my picks in some form of an exotic. I am not sure how I will play him yet but think that he is worth giving another go. My other early picks are also Coronal John, Z Fortone, Big Brown and Gayego

If it were not for the fact that Atoned is running only two weeks before the derby he would be in there also but I think he is being pushed to hard to make the field. To bad they wouldnt just same him up for the Preakness!

[pick4]

That latest work by Court Vision caught my attention as well as some friends of mine who are pretty sharp handicappers. Court Vision has won at Churchill, so the fine work reaffirms his affinity for the surface. The blinkers added factor is an interesting twist. If you take jockey Garrett Gomez at his word, he claims that Court Vision never got hold of the wet fast Aqueduct surface, you have to think the race helped the horse by running a 1 1/8 for conditioning purposes. His FOY was a race where he was too far back to make an impact but ran third nonetheless.

The Derby will come down to pace. Big Brown, War Pass, Gayego, the Rousell horse should ensure an honest pace. How Court Vision runs with blinkers is unknown. Horses can mature in a hurry between the major preps and the Derby. Look back at Charismatic. 4th place finisher behind Indian Charlie in the SA Derby. He runs a hole in the wind in the Lexington and carried that over to the Triple Crown races.

[hockey2315]

This whole Court Vision thing is pissing me off. He was an absolute toss to me before the blinker work but now I'm having second thoughts. I'll still probably toss him though.

[pick4]

Originally Posted by hockey2315

This whole Court Vision thing is pissing me off. He was an absolute toss to me before the blinker work but now I'm having second thoughts. I'll still probably toss him though.

He still might be a toss. But Mott adding blinks, Mott never known for fast works has a horse do it on own. If he becomes the wise guy horse he's a toss, I think he'll be 15-1 or more. The Derby is a confusing race. Once the posts are drawn it might be easier to conceptualize how the pace will be.
Maybe at that point things will be a bit clearer.

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by To_Close_to_call

Thanks for entertaining a new guys question!
If it were not for the fact that Atoned is running only two weeks before the derby he would be in there also but I think he is being pushed to hard to make the field. To bad they wouldnt just same him up for the Preakness!

Since you are a new guy, I can understand why you think this. But not that many years ago, two weeks out was a typical time for the last prep. Many horses prepped even later - the Bluegrass S was 10 days out and the Derby Trial really was a trial for the Derby, first on the Tuesday 4 days out, then on the previous Saturday, 7 days out. You go far enough back and the Derby and Preakness were on consecutive Saturdays.

Overseas, trainers still race their charges this way; the last qualifying race for the Melbourne Cup is on the Saturday before the Cup on the First Tuesday in November. Horses not infrequently run twice during the 5 days of Royal Ascot and run well - Baddam won both the big long distance handicaps (2.5 miles and 2.75 miles) a couple of years back. Just today, I saw a mare win a 2-mile hurdle race pulling away, after she won a similar race for mares only YESTERDAY.

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann

Since you are a new guy, I can understand why you think this. But not that many years ago, two weeks out was a typical time for the last prep. Many horses prepped even later - the Bluegrass S was 10 days out and the Derby Trial really was a trial for the Derby, first on the Tuesday 4 days out, then on the previous Saturday, 7 days out. You go far enough back and the Derby and Preakness were on consecutive Saturdays.

Overseas, trainers still race their charges this way; the last qualifying race for the Melbourne Cup is on the Saturday before the Cup on the First Tuesday in November. Horses not infrequently run twice during the 5 days of Royal Ascot and run well - Baddam won both the big long distance handicaps (2.5 miles and 2.75 miles) a couple of years back. Just today, I saw a mare win a 2-mile hurdle race pulling away, after she won a similar race for mares only YESTERDAY.

I don't see how any of this is relevant. This isn't the 70s and we're talking about American dirt horses. Horses DON'T run every week or two now. They are much more fragile animals. Atoned would have no shot in the derby anyways because he's slow and just not very good (although, he can win today against a pretty bad group). To say Atoned wouldn't have trouble coming back to run in the derby two weeks from now because Man O' War and Australian jumpers could do it is quite laughable.