Rob,

I guess we disagree here. NYQ was drawn inside with speed to his inside and out. They all broke well. I don't see how you could expect the jock to try to back down NYQ on the backstretch with Lino to his inside, Awesome Speed to his outside and Collected and Strad right there behind. It's not like Lino and Nyquist drew off by 5 lengths on the field. They were all right there.

Assuming you could even get the horse to do it, why would you pull Nyquist back to let one cross over in front of him while being pinned inside by another? So you can be stuck behind two horses taking dirt for the first time ever? That would have been the definition of a bad ride.

Had Nyq drawn outside they would have had options. But he didn't. The horse ran how he had to run to not take dirt. It was a horrible set up for him. He ran really well IMO. I don't fault the jock at all.

As an aside, I doubt NYQ runs in the Belmont. If I owned him I wouldn't. I would give him enough time to forget about this race, rebuild his energy and confidence while pointing towards the Travers.