BitPlayer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jazil's race, taken together with the performance
> by Sweetnorthernsaint in the Preakness, lends
> credence to the theory that the rail was not the
> place to be in the Derby.

Clearly

> I don't understand what Gomez was thinking taking
> the long way around the the first turn on Bob and
> John. I'm not alone:
>
> Todd Pletcher, trainer: "We had a rough trip with
> Bluegrass Cat. He lost a lot of ground on the
> first turn. He never stopped trying. Sunriver had
> a good trip. He dug in and tried hard. He ran a
> big race. Fractions were about where I thought
> they would be. I know sometimes, the strategy on
> the first turn is to stay out in the middle of the
> track, but basically, every race has been won on
> the rail all day. So, it was kind of a strange
> tactic."
>


My suggestion to Toddini is that he review the Charts. There were a couple of inside wins. There were a lot more wide trip wins and wide trip placings. The placing horses in the Belmont Stakes all went wide. Anything that ran near the rail in the Belmont languished. Granted the rail horses were not big factor horses. Because Bushfire won from inside in the previous race that shouldn't be cause for dismissing how well the wide horses did. She may have won by a half pole with a different path. In that regard she may be sitting on a fatigued race next.

The best case for Blue Cat may be that he got down near the rail when he was passed. Need to review the replay.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2006 09:24PM by Chuckles_the_Clown2.