"trip handicapping" is a valuable tool. the fact that there were no super speed horses in the derby, eg balto star or old trieste in recent runnings, certainly compromised the abilty of stretch runners in this most recent derby. this observation allowed many to throw out horses such as ats (although i would have thrown him out for other reasons, however was surprised by his 4th place finish). Trip handicapping dictated that just those same horses that finished 1-2-3 would excel. anyway, there was a great deal of pre-derby talk in this forum (with links to courier journal, blood horse and crist)about epo. comments please on nyra's announcement on 5/15/03 that all belmont stakes starters will be tested prior to the race and security will be tight. as crist mentioned in regards to another venue, since epo is not illegal, does this mean nyra will allow the horses to start but notify the public?