Thank You Mine That Bird

[Port Conway Lane]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

If it wasn't for Mine That Bird's inscutable effort today, we would have seen three relative mediocrities hit the wire together in one of the slowest KY Derbies in modern history. Now, instead of endlessly hearing about how wonderful a horse Pioneer of the Nile is, and one that only synthetic haters failed to see the obvious greatness of, we can all scratch our heads as to how this otherwise " slow " horse could destroy today's field.

I guess two things happened, the good horses all scratched for various reasons in the weeks leading up to the race and one horse loved the off-going....and the rest just aren't that good or completely didn't show up.
Today's Derby, which had a great deal of promise a month ago, ended up being a shell of its possible self, and one run on a sloppy surface that ultimately answered few questions. But at least it didn't produce a slew of undeserved accolades. For that I am thankful.

Who would be in the category of completely didn't show up?
POTN ended up in front of 17 other horses on a surface he wasn't supposed to perform well on according to many detractors and not only does that question still remain unanswered(whether synthetic is a preferred surface or a negligible factor) but a case could be made for him as much as any horse in the field that he didn't show up and run his best race.