Ride on Normandy Invasion

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Port Conway Lane

This is a fair question. But first there seems to be some kind of disparity in the opinions of many not WHETHER he made an early move but when it occured. After 6 furlongs had been run NI was in 6th place 2 1/2 lengths in front of IMLD, who was another length clear of Charming Kitten. Other than the pacesetter, who was 3 1/2 lengths in front of Oxbow, that 2 1/2 length separation was the largest in the field. Every horse in front of NI had run a faster 1/2 mile and a faster 6 furlongs. To my way of thinking it was this point in the race where his chances were compromised.

To answer your question, the closest horse behind him was going backwards and all of the movement was occuring well back in the pack, so there were horses moving with him, but they were so far back the eye doesn't see them gaining on him, it sees the horses that were just in front of him falling behind. From the 1/2 mile pole to the 1/4 pole he had every right to pass the horses that had run faster than he did up to that point. It wasn't as if he cleared 5 lengths on Oxbow at the 1/4 pole.

Fair point, but those moves at the back of the pack were being made more out of necessity so those horses didn't have 20 lengths to make up at the top of the stretch, whereas Javier, thanks to NI's tactical speed, had much more flexibility in when he decided to go after the leaders.