Only half of my question was if I were stupid or not, the other half was related to the race.

I was seeking an opinion from any other astute horsepeople out there -- their take on the gallop out? Isn't that the purpose of this messege board? If you don't think gallop-outs are important, you must go by just numbers when you handicap, so you can ignore my posts from here on, for they will not be relevant, especially when trying to predict something a horse has never done before, like run a mile and a quarter on derby day.

However, again, I was wondering why would someone not want their horse to gallop out to the seven furlong pole, at least, and especially if the race was fairly easy for him? I was not questioning the handling of the horse, though in my mind, he ran only one truly impressive race, earlier in the year, beating Stevie Wonderboy. In fact, I thought he'd have a difficult time ever running back to that level of performance, and I bet against him in his subsequent races; perhaps the "stupid" label applies quite fittingly after all. I'll likely keep my streak of betting against him going on derby day, though I wish his connections all the best.

With all the pre-finish-line celebrating from Solis, I wonder just was "this" Brother Derek's Derby?