Giant Oak wins the Derby..
 

In the spirit of threads past, and promising not to Casino Drive this horse to oblivion, I'm going out on a limb..

Distance is not an issue and is cool with the track.
Prado and horse did everything possibly wrong last race.
Horse has not had a fair trip since AP '08.
Chris Block will get it done

Go to sleep

I did...it's morning...sort of..

The horse didn't do anything wrong.

And, it probably has the highest IQ of the three.

Block being at the low end, of course; only a ****** would put another ****** on his Derby horse. Oh wait, it follows that the owner is lower in the intelligence chain than even Block.

I can't wait to see what they do to this horse next time out.

the next Dollar Bill....

which Derby...WV, VA, OH :D

PA

I like the horse, and was pulling for him in his last, but what would make him more likely to have a fair trip in a 20 horse Derby field ?

Prado messed him up twice. Go back and watch his lawn race. Keep him back, go wide if necessary and let him stretch. He may be perfect Belmont dist. Secretariat at Arl being a backup and maybe a cinch.

Giant Oak gets has trip problems in 10 horse field. Why would it be different in a 20 horse field?

This horse will probably be a sucessful grass horse if the he stays sound.

You might want to wait and see what 3yo's ship over from Europe before declaring the Secretariat to be a backup or a cinch.

Those Grade One grass races with Dermot Weld and Aidan O'Brien runners usually don't come up too easy for an Illinois-bred, Team Block or not.

Usually speed horses win the Belmont

We're talking Secretariat not Million

:confused:
I think Jazil is fast too, but DrugS might disagree.

Like Birdstone.

I'm aware, look at the top two finishers from last year.

My thinking is w/his pedigree he shouldn't like dist, at least on his dams side. He's a freak. Watch his first race. Green as heck but?

You under estimate the local effect. I know some will run on the course to help an IL bred.

Seems like a natural for the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

I think you are greatly overestimated the Euros in last years race and overestimated the talent of the field. Weld and O'Brien do not send 'nut' horses for that race. Winchester was 'ok' and just beat a very bad bunch. Nothing has come out of that race and Winchester didn't do anything afterwards (I know it was only a couple races)

I know it is hard to estimate but if you put a 3 year old Giant Oak in that race against Winchester last year, Giant Oak would dust that horse.

That is terribly hard to estimate, not to mention ludicrous.

What is your basis for this statement? Name one Secretariat winner since 2000 that Giant Oak could realistically run with based on his maiden victory and eighth place finish in the Bourbon at Keeneland. Is it just speculation of how good he could be?

Arlington Park based horses and Chicago horses in general are subpar.

The facility is really nice, and there are a lot of flowers and people picking up trash, but the purses and quality of runner leaves something to be desired.

Blackberry Road II Electric Boogaloo.

He got quite the fair trip at Keeneland, saved ground the entire way around the track with cover and didn't have any kick at all when it came time to go.

we saw the race a lot differently. covered or blocked?

You really need to stop commenting on races you either don't watch closely or lack the requisite skill to properly interpret. Hell, forget interpretation; at least describe what actually happened.

It's interesting, however, that you chose this race to make your case while ignoring the SIGNIFICANTLY worse ride in the FG race.

Don't think Prado will ever get on him again or at least hope not.

You consider that trip FAIR at Keeneland.




WOW!

He's talking about Prado again...we'll see.

I love the IL bred/Chicago horse negativity. If I impregnate Miss America, does it matter if she gives birth in Montana or Kentucky? If there are no stallion rules in place, then where a horse is bred...aka..dropped, doesn't matter in the least. If Giant Oak was bred in Indiana, then that would have been his first race. That is the last reason that he should be looked down on.

And my horse is one of the reasons he got such a bad trip in that KEE race...It was like dodging rocks from the dump truck in front of you trying to avoid Albin as Douglas pulled him up.

And I thought predicting a Derby win for Giant Oak was a stretch......:D

If you impregnate Miss American she better not give birth in Illinois

I wrote Jessica Alba first, and then digressed from there

I think foaled in Aruba has a nice ring to it

maybe Jessica Pacheco

I will come for moral support

no pun intended?

I was wrong, his trip wasn't ideal at Keeneland. I watched again and was looking at the wrong horse really late last night.

He didn't get a fair shake in that race. I stand corrected.

See above post, I was wrong.

I didn't ignore the Fair Grounds race, just didn't see it as relevant to the argument that the Secretariat could be a backup race or a cinch to a horse that hasn't shown he is anywhere near that level.

Did someone call me ?

Nice