Derby Aftermath

[moses]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Hypothetical Question - let's assume for a moment that Rosario's iron doesn't slip on Rock Your World at the break, Asmussen actually instructs Smith to go on Midnight Bourbon (the only chance the horse had, BTW) and now Medina Spirit is pressed on the lead the whole way, fades as expected in the stretch due to pace pressure, and finishes a faltering (and expected) 8th or 9th.

How would that affect the perspective? I'd venture a bet that this would be the biggest non-story since the last time he got caught.

Instead the racing world is upside-down over it because the horse won, thus the automatic assumption by the media and casual fans of the sport is that the horse won because of this overage, not because he was allowed to walk the whole way, against one of the most horrid fields in recent history.

Context would be helpful. And it would have been refreshing to see Lukas explain that, and why the perceived cause/effect is not accurate, rather than giving Baffert a pass and adding more fuel to the fire.

Agreed on all that, except I really don’t think Midnight Bourbon would have impacted the race. He’s not fast enough, in my opinion. We may find out tomorrow.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by moses

Agreed on all that, except I really don’t think Midnight Bourbon would have impacted the race. He’s not fast enough, in my opinion. We may find out tomorrow.

I don't know if he is fast enough or not - I know he's never passed a horse in his life, so if he were to have any chance, he needs to be sent, thus would have provided some additional pace pressure at least early on.... I'm sure they are sending him tomorrow, so I agree, we'll see.