Rajiv Maragh

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

I have to disagree that his ride was "mind-bogglingly incompetent." His hand was forced once Dominguez decided not to press Quality Road for who knows what reason. Rajiv couldn't have known that QR was going to come back to the field like he did, and the fractions were soft, so he pressed the pace. The wideness certainly hurt him, but other than that, I don't see his ride as terrible.

When Dominguez decided not to press Quality Road from the outset - Margah basically took his horse out of his game and do it.

That results in him being 2 paths wider than QR the whole way around the first turn - and 3 paths wider than Blame .. meaning he's giving away 3 lengths in ground loss to Quality Road and 4.5 lengths to Blame while riding the ears off of a horse who couldn't hold off Sumo the last time he was that close to the pace.

On the backstretch - he puts Dominguez in a box and starts race riding him ... Haynesfield's a 12/1 shot who broke through the gate pre-start - and he's treating him like he's Cigar or something. Dominguez has to get shoulder to shoulder and pushes Musket Man out to get out of the box on the turn .. while Musket Man's getting shoved out he's about a path and a half wider than Quality Road on the far turn ... and Gomez's had a flawless ground saving ride in behind him while Quality Road's had a dream trip in front of him.