Getting back to things that can be quantified...

Friedman was asked on his site what figures High Fly and Noble Causeway ran in the Florida Derby, and responded ("Pace Numbers") that they both ran 4 1/2, which equates to ours for the winner. Problem is, they gave both horses the same number, which is wrong.

The weight both horses carried was equal. HF was 2/2 on the turns, NC was 1/2-3-4 (there was discussion of this after we saw what Len said, and we checked it. Look at the replay yourself). This means that they netted out the same on the turns-- HF's paths totalled 4, so did NC (2-3-4 averages 3, 3 +1 = 4). So since HF won the race by 1 1/2 lengths, he has to get 3/4 of a point the better figure.

But evidently not on 11th street-- and keep in mind the only way you could give them the same figure is to have NC 1 1/2 paths wider, meaning 4.5 all the way around the second turn. Look-- as I said recently, I'm going to try not to spend a tremendous amount of time on Ragozin anymore, since they appear to have very few on-line customers. But this is a BIG race (AGAIN, as with last year's Derby, and BC sprint, and Touch Of The Blues a couple of years ago in the BC), and this is the SECOND FINISHER, a major Derby hopeful. That number could matter a lot, even more than usual. You really have to wonder about the level of their work day-to-day-- and I'm not even talking about the variant decisions.



TGJB