Who Will Be The Pace Setter In The Derby?

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

In the majority of Derby's lately the horse on the lead out of the gate couldn't win a top class race at 10 furlongs if they replaced the dirt on the rail with a conveyer belt. A souped up track isn't going to magically make Bob Black Jack, Keyed Entry or Spanish Chestnut able to get 10 furlongs.

Right but did the pace hold up at all in any of the Derbies that you mention? Wouldn't a souped up track that is assumed to be speed-favoring at least enable some of those horses to hang around.

My point is very simple. It happened after the Fla Derby and it's happening again. Labels like biased, speed-favoring, souped-up are thrown around very casually, especially when one wants to fit their own agenda. They are all isolated instances but at times can be mixed. A souped-up track, a track that has been situated so that times are fast, is not necessarily a speed-favoring track. To say that the CD strip is often souped-up on Derby day would be accurate. Yes, the track is often very, very fast on Derby day. But to assume that because it's souped up that its going to favor speed is a connection I wouldn't make.

Thus, anyone spending time right now trying to figure out who COULD go wire-to-wire because they're hoping that the track is souped-up AND will favor speed ought to start handicapping the Queen's Plate because that set of conditions cannot be expected at this point in time.

NT