Never said it wasn't. In fact, I came on here and said that was much more impressive than his Pacific Classic win because of the trip. But Shared Belief was going to have a tough, wide trip regardless of whether Sky Kingdom floated him out 1-2 paths on the first turn. Hence "a little tougher."

why, he didnt in the classic. I dont know how you know he was.

So if Sky Kingdom doesn't carry him out some on the 1st turn, SB is going 1w1w and tripping out for the win. OK.

No but I could see 2w-2w which given the pace would have yielded an easy winner rather than all this "not sure he can handle dirt - it took a lot of him talk".

being carried wide doesn't negate questions about him handling the track.

Yes Joey, that's precisely the point. :rolleyes:

The horse was purposely entered to herd the favorite 7 paths out. No other purpose.

It has absolutely nothing to do with co-entered rabbits, et. al. other "apples to oranges" comparisons.

It has everything to do with taking a legal betting interest, and premeditatively compromising any chance at all it may have had to hit the board for no reason other than to impede another horse.

If you have no problem with that, I'm not going to change your mind.

Apparently the stewards did, and I agree with their decision.

So I am curious to know how it is acceptable to run a rabbit at a speed oriented favorite at the expense of the rabbit's chances to win the race. The rabbit is a legal betting interest whose sole purpose is to compromise the chances of the favorite. The public lost money on the rabbit.

Ultimately this is no different than what happened in this race. The only difference is that the tactics changed in this race, the favorite was compromised by being carried wide. The tactics almost worked, it was a close finish.

The racing form does not put an asterisk next to the name of the rabbit reminding bettors that an agenda is at hand and to beware that this horse is not in the race to win. It does list the name of the trainer so bettor beware, the lesser of the entry, coupled or not, could possibly be in there to help his stablemate.

What bothers me more is what I can't see in the form. Like Gary Stevens running Fury Kapcori to a 1:09 and change 6f split going 1 1/4 miles.

I get it, Chuck.

Devil's Advocate is an excellent way to kill time and as what the cool kids say these day..."s h i tpost"

But either way that race wasn't a good look for the sport. Especially considering Espinoza accused Smith of threatening to cut his head off.

We don't need drone strikes on track. Not that I particularly care because I never go these days...but it would suck for other people.

rabbits are entered to ensure a good early pace, not necessarily to intentionally lose, or intentionally cause a wide trip.

past performances tell you who's the rabbit. they don't however let you know who's there to engage in herding. besides, sometimes rabbits get alone on the lead and stay there til the end. Aristides won the first derby when entered to set the pace for the stable star, who forgot to get going in the end of the race.
there's no way to know about these sorts of things and when they may happen again.
I think the biggest issue is bettors felt rooked, and when they bring it up, they're told too bad, get over it. it's really the only business I know of that the customer is told 'tough, stop complaining, but please keep betting'.

The lesser part of the entry (as I suggested) would be the one to potentially do the herding. Just because some rabbits stay there until the end doesn't justify the fact that they are in the race to sacrifice their chances of winning to soften up another horse. In an uncoupled entry bettors who wagered on the rabbit in the vast majority of cases lose their money because the rabbit was in the race to compromise another horse.

Much of what I've read in this thread seems to be that bettors lost money on Sky Kingdom and they were taken advantage of because he was in the race only to compromise the chances of another horse at his own expense.

So my question is why is one form of " sacrifice " accepted and another is not?

how is a front running horse who goes to the front being compromised? Is a speed horse supposed to be ridden differently? We know that there are two speed, or more, in a race prior to the race being run.

How did we know Sky Kingdom would be ridden to lose so much ground?

The rabbit isn't being compromised by "going to the front". The result of his actions, running as fast as he can to compromise another, is that he will ultimately have little left to win the race. It is his job.

We don't know Sky Kingdom will be ridden to lose ground. What we do know is that his trainer has another horse in the race. We also know the other horse is more likely to perform better than Sky Kingdom. As a bettor we have to know that it is conceivable that if given the opportunity, the weaker part of the entry could be used to compromise the chances of another, to potentially help his stablemate win.

For a minute let's say Sky Kingdom was outside of Shared Belief. Given the way the early pace developed Espinosa could have kept Smith inside of him and behind his stablemate. No ground would have been lost but potentially Shared Belief may have been compromised in another manner.

I'm not condoning what happened. I simply want to know why one strategy is acceptable and another is not.

like i said, just because one if a rabbit, doesn't mean he's going to be 'sacrificed' at all.

I dont see how one horse is sacrificed, he is a front runner who will have to go head to head with another, usually superior front runner, his loss is very likely and certainly discernible.

Your analysis pre race certainly highlights why many people dont want to bet on the sport.

So his loss being likely and discernible makes it ok to make him a separate betting interest, available for the public to wager and lose their money?

My pre race analysis points out only a possibility, nothing more. There are no absolutes. Bettors can choose which races to wager.

It doesn't mean he won't.

Pretty obvious through 6 pages that nobody has an answer for this. You're wasting your time.

This can go on forever and no one is changing camps.

but one can bet him, or not, accordingly. it's there in the pp's to see he's a speedster.
however, no one is going to know by reading pp's that the longshot will be ridden so as to impede another horse, and then be pulled up and not bothered to finish. bettors have no way to act accordingly, because they don't know ahead of time.
but i guess we're 'supposed' to know which longshots are live, and which are just there to be a traffic cone. how we're supposed to know that i'm not sure.
so, bettors get told tough and nothing is done, and bettors are just whiners.
but, hey, keep betting tho!

I have time, but thanks.