DERBY NEWS (4/26): Filly in, Rule out; Lucky, Noble's work best..

Antitrust32 · #1 04-26-2010, 02:33 PM

So Barbaro, Street Sense & Smarty Jones all had good works so that made them win? Werent they also favored or close to it and shown the most talent heading into the race?

Works are incredibly overrated. Unless a horse is a first out maiden they can be helpful.

Really, like Philski said, the only thing you can take from Derby works is if the horse looks sore or injured. Besides that all these horses are nice horses and all should look "dappled" and work like they normally do. Doesnt mean anything..

Except for redboarding after the race when a 50-1 shot win and people say "oh the horse has dapples and was working so great thats why he won"

Linny · #2 04-26-2010, 02:45 PM

Works are important if you know what you are looking at. I sometimes wonder if the writers that cover them have any idea what they are seeing or if they are just parrotting the trainers comments. Some writers seem so dazzled by the experience that every horse looks AMAZING! Guess what, they are Derby colts, they are supposed to look great. They are not supposed to look like $5k horses at Beulah.
What I want is for a Derby reporter to linger in the shedrow to see a concerned looking trainer consulting with a farrier and tell me about it. That trainer told the press this morning that his horse has never been better and no one in the group knows what a quarter crack looks like. Sadly, for that kind of scoop I need to go to Indian Charlie.

Did no one in the media think something was up with Eskendereya when all of TAP's others trained on schedule? I didn't see anything about it if they did.

tjfla · #3 04-26-2010, 02:50 PM

I still love when we hear the horse ran bad cause he was cut up and clipped heels or he got stuck in traffic

The Derby is a 20 horse race and 80% get a cut or are stuck in traffic.

If u get in trouble in a 8 horse race,what happens in a 20 horse race??

lemoncrush · #4 04-26-2010, 02:54 PM

With the defections and possible future defections, where do the next 3 or 4 horses stand as far as wanting in (Make Music, A Little Warm, etc..).

And....where is Drosselmeyer as far as earnings? If something strange happens, would his connections want in? Especially if Winstar loses both Endorsement and Rule from the race?

In this field, he all of a sudden looks a lot more interesting than many of the probable starters. Does Mott even have him in Kentucky?

philcski · #5 04-26-2010, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linny

Works are important if you know what you are looking at. I sometimes wonder if the writers that cover them have any idea what they are seeing or if they are just parrotting the trainers comments. Some writers seem so dazzled by the experience that every horse looks AMAZING! Guess what, they are Derby colts, they are supposed to look great. They are not supposed to look like $5k horses at Beulah.
What I want is for a Derby reporter to linger in the shedrow to see a concerned looking trainer consulting with a farrier and tell me about it. That trainer told the press this morning that his horse has never been better and no one in the group knows what a quarter crack looks like. Sadly, for that kind of scoop I need to go to Indian Charlie.

Did no one in the media think something was up with Eskendereya when all of TAP's others trained on schedule? I didn't see anything about it if they did.

I think a lot of times what they can write is different from what they think. On Saturday, Mike Welsch was ADAMANT that Eskendereya was not going to run. He really couldn't report that though until it was made official- which happened to be the next day.

RolloTomasi · #6 04-26-2010, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linny

Works are important if you know what you are looking at. I sometimes wonder if the writers that cover them have any idea what they are seeing or if they are just parrotting the trainers comments. Some writers seem so dazzled by the experience that every horse looks AMAZING! Guess what, they are Derby colts, they are supposed to look great. They are not supposed to look like $5k horses at Beulah.
What I want is for a Derby reporter to linger in the shedrow to see a concerned looking trainer consulting with a farrier and tell me about it. That trainer told the press this morning that his horse has never been better and no one in the group knows what a quarter crack looks like. Sadly, for that kind of scoop I need to go to Indian Charlie.

Did no one in the media think something was up with Eskendereya when all of TAP's others trained on schedule? I didn't see anything about it if they did.

What's a little annoying is all the attention paid to the "gallop outs" on these works. It's almost as if these guys expect them to gallop out at the same pace as the work proper (never mind that we have no clue what the instructions were to the rider).

The pinnacle was Sidney's Candy breeze in a paint-peeling 1:11+, but because he only galloped out in 1:26, the work apparently sucked.

It's almost as if a sub :14 post-work 1/8th is more important than the actual workout itself. I guess they're just trying hard to get an edge by looking for clues from things other people take for granted, but to put them center stage is a bit excessive.

These are probably the same guys who were all over Tiago in the Belmont in '07 when he passed five horses after the wire in the Derby (never mind he was still under a drive from Mike Smith while everyone else was standing up).

Antitrust32 · #7 04-26-2010, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linny

Works are important if you know what you are looking at. I sometimes wonder if the writers that cover them have any idea what they are seeing or if they are just parrotting the trainers comments. Some writers seem so dazzled by the experience that every horse looks AMAZING! Guess what, they are Derby colts, they are supposed to look great. They are not supposed to look like $5k horses at Beulah.
What I want is for a Derby reporter to linger in the shedrow to see a concerned looking trainer consulting with a farrier and tell me about it. That trainer told the press this morning that his horse has never been better and no one in the group knows what a quarter crack looks like. Sadly, for that kind of scoop I need to go to Indian Charlie.

Did no one in the media think something was up with Eskendereya when all of TAP's others trained on schedule? I didn't see anything about it if they did.

exactly. all the derby horses look like a million bucks at this stage. The only important thing to take from Derby week works are if the horse looks really off. Then again, hopefully said horse would be scratched from the race. I do believe that people, including Steve, were mentioning how Eskendereya looked sore and wasnt training right.

I would like the reporters to be able to go into the barns and check to see if there is any really good juice laying around. That would be helpful!

Cannon Shell · #8 04-26-2010, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linny

Works are important if you know what you are looking at. I sometimes wonder if the writers that cover them have any idea what they are seeing or if they are just parrotting the trainers comments. Some writers seem so dazzled by the experience that every horse looks AMAZING! Guess what, they are Derby colts, they are supposed to look great. They are not supposed to look like $5k horses at Beulah.
What I want is for a Derby reporter to linger in the shedrow to see a concerned looking trainer consulting with a farrier and tell me about it. That trainer told the press this morning that his horse has never been better and no one in the group knows what a quarter crack looks like. Sadly, for that kind of scoop I need to go to Indian Charlie.

Did no one in the media think something was up with Eskendereya when all of TAP's others trained on schedule? I didn't see anything about it if they did.

Rarely will I defend the media but people in this sport (trainers and owners especially) are so hyper sensitive to criticism that reporting anything that makes someone "look bad", they will shut off access. And since there are only a few trainers with good enough horses to talk to, media types softshoe around these things. Of course most of them wouldnt know what they are looking at anyway...