The headon at CALRACING terminates before they hit the turn so it's hard to know for certain but it appears that AA was under heavy restraint almost the entire run down the backstretch, the only horse being restrained, and that JB had an inside run in the lane. Now, after witnessing any number of horses make sustained runs/hang on on the inside, I'd sort of hesitate before seeing anything in JB's race. Factor in the slow pace and he basically got a nice trip -- allowing that he was wide on the 1st turn, of course.

Maybe AA has distance limitations but I don't see where today's performance indicates this.

I disagree.
Awesome Act did have a bit of trouble at the start.

A decent amount of money has been burned by the runners out of the Gotham. The figure looked suspiciously high, although Leparoux rode Awesome Act like HE was the 3-5 favorite. Dutrow's horse ran decently in Stickney, but was crazily overbet. Supposedly the Rags had huge numbers for the Gotham runners. I hear they are still looking for Nacho Friend to finish the Sunland Derby from last Saturday.

Interesting. TG's were about in line with what you'd expect with the race (Awesome Act got a 2, I think Yawanna Twist was a 4.)

That was according to Tom Amoss, who said after looking at the Rags for the race, he felt his horse had too make a sizeable move forward to beat the TWO Gotham invaders. I guess he was right that he couldn't get near Dutrow's horse.

just read that awesome act lost a front shoe at the start. of course his trainer said the early fractions were too slow for the horse to make his late run. but we all know that a swift late move will be blunted if a horse has distance limitations. guess we'll see with this one.

I can't particularly argue with that, and the pace clearly did him in, but I just don't think someone should blame the ride. He has one run...which is why the Gotham ( with a fast pace pace ) set up well for him and today's race didn't.

You're right that today's race doesn't show distance limitations, and maybe I am projecting incorrectly, but horses with one quick burst like he has often aren't more effective the longer they go. However, given the likely pace scenerio in the Derby he could certainly be the one who is a distant second to Eskendereya ( or fill out the Eskendereya-Lookin at Lucky tri ).

Given Eskendereya stays sound, and doesn't get knocked over, this Derby is a foregone conclusion. It's a man among boys.

Really? You think he's head and shoulders better? The only horse I thought that of was FuPeg and he needed a great trip to beat Aptitude and then got trounced in the Preakness. No such thing in a 20 horse field.

Who's close to Eskendereya right now? The horse's tactical speed should keep him out of significant trouble. If he breaks OK, I don't think he loses.

Line of the day: Eskendereya- Egyptian for "I owe Fifth Third a couple billion dollars"

I think you're exactly right. I wonder if he'll have trouble potentially being farther off the pace but I really don't think he will. As long as Johnny V avoids watching tape of Point Given I like his chances.

NT

PG just declared him the TC winner in the Giants Causeway thread...



You KNOW what that means......

whose was that?

3-1 for your troubles! Enjoy

Who said anything about betting him?

Chuckles, a while back... I mean a while back you told me a Giants Causeway would NEVER win a Grade 1 on dirt. Do you remember that? I mean Heatseeker already should have, but now today, today it happens.

Butler

Hey it only took what? 600, 700 foals?

Pg can't count, don't worry.

No idea. Got it in a retweet. Still funny though