McKee Blew it!

Pedigree Ann · #1 09-24-2006, 09:36 AM

Backtrack to February 1971. Whittingham has this promising colt who had come up from the Chile the previous summer and had won several nice races, and placed in a couple others, coming from off the pace. The Bald Eagle and his main man Shoemaker were finding their best strategy was to drop him out completely early and make a big looping move on the far turn. Today is the San Marcos H at 10f on the turf; Cougar II is the highweight and favorite. But when they spring from the gate, The Big Cat decides to throw out the script. He goes straight to the front and the Shoe wisely decides to humor him. He was 2 lengths in front the first time they went under the wire and 6 lengths in front the second time (the one that counted). His Felinity never did it again, I suppose because he had proved to his jock who was in control.

Moral of the story: Adjusting the plan to fit the horse's mood and race conditions works better than trying to force the horse to fit the plan. The ablility to make that kind of judgment on the fly is the difference between a top jock and a hard-working, consciencious midlevel jock like McKee.

Gander · #2 09-24-2006, 09:45 AM

Or could it just be Strong Contender is just a better horse?

Pointg5 · #3 09-24-2006, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gander

Or could it just be Strong Contender is just a better horse?

He's definetely not a better horse, he only won by a little less than a length, not exactly a pounding, LR took the worst of it, but that's on him, it wasn't SC's fault that he won, they're both about the same talent level, not much seperates them...

Pointg5 · #4 09-24-2006, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pointg5

He's definetely not a better horse, he only won by a little less than a length, not exactly a pounding, LR took the worst of it, but that's on him, it wasn't SC's fault that he won, they're both about the same talent level, not much seperates them...

I will mention one thing that seperates them, it is that some people refuse to acknowledge no matter how many times he proves it, that LR is a very good and possibly G1 type horse...If you are a LR fan, yesterday was nothing but a confirmation that he's a very good horse, that needs to learn to rate...

SniperSB23 · #5 09-25-2006, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merasmag

but i'm gonna haveto start posting some responses here-are you calling steppenwolfer SUSPECT?-lord my head is numb

I'm about the biggest Steppenwolfer fan on the planet but I think it is more than fair to call him suspect.

SniperSB23 · #6 09-25-2006, 12:07 PM

No clue what Beyer did with the figure but the equibase number was a 109 for Strong Contender which translates to about a 95-99 Beyer.

#7 09-25-2006, 12:32 PM

no way...it's the fastest super derby at that distance, and a few ticks off the track record. beyer is going to be in the hundreds.

cal828 · #8 09-24-2006, 10:17 AM

Strange that they seem to have been able to rate him in some races usually against lesser competition, but not others. Why is that? In the Saint Louis race maybe it was just rust being his first off layoff, but he was also rateable
in the Southwest. Anybody know what his beyer was? I think he had to run a bigger one that the Arkansas Derby. Yesterday's race was about 3 seconds faster, I think.

DiscreetCat=Monster · #9 09-24-2006, 10:51 AM

this horse is 6-8 lenghts faster if they could get a jock to do some work with him in the mornings and get him to relax.

Pedigree Ann · #10 09-24-2006, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gander

Or could it just be Strong Contender is just a better horse?

It is possible, but you can't prove it from the results of the Super Derby.

2Hot4TV · #11 09-24-2006, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gander

Or could it just be Strong Contender is just a better horse?

Strong Contender was fit and ready for the race, but to say he is a better race horse? Only on yesterday. In the future? We will see.

Danzig · #12 09-24-2006, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

I have a feeling that if McKee lets him go yesterday, and opens up 10 down the backstretch, and still gets beat. All we'd here is why did McKee let him run off.

well, that is a possibility...but we only know what we know, and that's that he fought the horse, and the horse lost by about 3/4 of a length after a wrestling match with his rider.

Zoe · #13 09-24-2006, 01:09 PM

Trying not to be too critical, But Lawyer Ron will need to be carrying an oxygen tank instead of a rider to make it a step past 1 1/8 miles. He will be solid at 1 - 1 1/16, and may beat lesser at 1 1/8, but 1 1/4 is beyond this horse's ability.
If he runs in the Classic, he's not much more than a pace factor for the big boys.

Pointg5 · #14 09-24-2006, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoe

Trying not to be too critical, But Lawyer Ron will need to be carrying an oxygen tank instead of a rider to make it a step past 1 1/8 miles. He will be solid at 1 - 1 1/16, and may beat lesser at 1 1/8, but 1 1/4 is beyond this horse's ability.
If he runs in the Classic, he's not much more than a pace factor for the big boys.

Let's see he's had 2 races @ 1 1/8th, he's won one and run 2nd in the other(while setting fast fractions), the Derby is a throwout, because he came up hurt and was over the top with all of the racing. Please justify your statement, because you have no proof that he can't go that far....

sumitas · #15 09-24-2006, 02:06 PM

SC almost broke the track record yesterday, only coming up 2 ticks off. Both SC and LR shoould get huge numbers for the race.

Gander · #16 09-24-2006, 02:47 PM

You cant say that there is no way Strong Contender is the better horse or vice versa. I personally think so but cnt argue with those who feel Lawyer Ron is the better horse. But please dont act like Lawyer Ron is some super horse like Bernardini and whos recent wins blow Strong Contender's resume out of the water. Its just not true. I agree these horses are very close in ability but I think Strong Contender is more talented. Only time will tell, and maybe time wont even tell with the way horses are retired just when your getting into rivalries.

kentuckyrosesinmay · #17 09-24-2006, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gander

You cant say that there is no way Strong Contender is the better horse or vice versa. I personally think so but cnt argue with those who feel Lawyer Ron is the better horse. But please dont act like Lawyer Ron is some super horse like Bernardini and whos recent wins blow Strong Contender's resume out of the water. Its just not true. I agree these horses are very close in ability but I think Strong Contender is more talented. Only time will tell, and maybe time wont even tell with the way horses are retired just when your getting into rivalries.

I think you're right only that I think that SC and LR are about at the same level at 1 1/8. Past 1 1/8, it's SC all the way. I really think LR has distance limitations. Yesterday proved that neither one of these horses are "slow". SC made a very, very nice move coming around the final turn. I think that this horse is improving, and will be an extremely nice horse as a four year old. I really see SC being a late bloomer because of his size. I mean, you saw the difference in SC's size and LR's size yesterday. SC is HUGE!!! I also think that the Beyers for this race will be decent in the grand scheme of GI horses.

I would like to see Holthus skip the BCC with LR and point him to the Cigar Mile. I don't think that he will be a factor in the Classic because I really don't think this horse is going to want 1 1/4 especially with him being as rank as he is, but I do think that he would do very well in the CM.

Zoe · #18 09-24-2006, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pointg5

Let's see he's had 2 races @ 1 1/8th, he's won one and run 2nd in the other(while setting fast fractions), the Derby is a throwout, because he came up hurt and was over the top with all of the racing. Please justify your statement, because you have no proof that he can't go that far....

Its just an opinion. I have no need to justify it. My impression is that this horse will be fine up to 1 1/8 miles, but I don't believe he can get the extra 1/8th mile at this time. If they ran him in the BC, its "my opinion" that he can't get the distance with the big horses.
And conversely,using your logic, he has not shown anything to suggest that he can get the distance.The Derby may be a "throwout", but the FACT of the matter is he has tried it once and was hammered.

DiscreetCat=Monster · #19 09-24-2006, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoe

Its just an opinion. I have no need to justify it. My impression is that this horse will be fine up to 1 1/8 miles, but I don't believe he can get the extra 1/8th mile at this time. If they ran him in the BC, its "my opinion" that he can't get the distance with the big horses.
And conversely,using your logic, he has not shown anything to suggest that he can get the distance.The Derby may be a "throwout", but the FACT of the matter is he has tried it once and was hammered.

The derby is a throw out watch him run up the backside and McKee can't get him to relax so he just about ran over like 5 horses

Gander · #20 09-24-2006, 06:55 PM

Thanks for watching the replay of the Haskell. I beg anyone who thinks Cacique and English Channel had bad trips in the Arl Million to watch the first part of the Haskell and Strong Contender. Please.