After the first two races my questions about how the Northern horses were running were answered, and Ashado indicated the Pletcher horses might be okay, although given the weight and ground it was clear she did not run a top. But it would have been very, very hard for me to use Speightstown under any circumstances-- if I upgraded his chances I also had to upgrade Frankel, Mitchell and the other Northern horses.

This, by the way, was a real problem in doing the analysis, as opposed to the seminar. The analysis has to be concise (3 1/2 minutes total on the 900#), and the picks can't be if/then. I couldn't really say, "if the the move-up horses are running, bet..."

The biggest questions about this BC, by the way, concern those issues that John Chance raised here Sunday. I didn't know anybody who was on the BC backstretch this year, and I would very much like to know how tight security was, and what exactly they did. If indeed it was tight, and if some of us are right in thinking that some things happened anyway, the issue of detention barns is a complete irrelevency, because race day medication is not the issue. Mall? Anybody?



TGJB