derby wrote:

>Good luck to all in the Derby (better luck to those of you playing the same horses that I will be playing).

>It should be an exciting derby with some decent races on the undercard.

>I will not make any predictions but I know that a lot of people whose opinions I respect have vary different ideas this year.

>It should be an interesting race and pace, trip and track condition will likely determine the outcome.

>So many questions to be answered?

>Is Smarty Jones the next Spend A Buck or just another Mr. Frisky?

Spend a Buck... and Mr. Frisky was a darn good one. He was sick come the Preakness and its hard to say if it might not of impacted him Derby day.

>Is The Cliff's Edge another Strike the Gold or just another Halory Hunter or Stephen Got Even?

Still undetermined. Losing two front shoes in that mess had to throw him off his game somewhat

>Does Lion Heart really have a Lion's Heart?

He may have a big heart. He went somewhat faster early than he had to. Smith said he heard the crowd roar and thought it was time to scoot. Its hard to say right now, but that track may not have been the benefit to Rion its popularly thought to have been.

>Can Read the Footnotes bounce back like Monarchos or Thunder Gulch or will he nose dive like so many others that flashed brilliant races at 2 and early 3 only to fall apart at Derby time?

No..but he had some slight trouble and came out of the race congested. Violette is pure class not even referring to the problems.

>Can Frankel, Dickenson, Mullins or Asmussen pull off some of their "Super" trainer magic?

No...the backstretch security must have been commendable and Tapit couldn't swill Guiness during the race.

>Can a 21 year-old woman become the youngest trainer and first female trainer ever to win the Derby?

Almost

>Can Action This Day break the BC jinx?

No

>Can one of the other longshots get a good trip and improve enough to pull off a shocker?

Limehouse did to some extent

>Will Jerry Bailey get a Derby mount?

No but I wish he had...lol

>Will Andy Beyer finally get off the Derby bagel?

NO..is Andy on the lifetime derby bagel? I tuned in for his Friday night DRF chat. I asked several questions but the moderator didn't think they were good enough I guess. One question I asked was "Everyone acknowledges that if Andy isn't the father of modern speed figures he is certainly a huge contributor to their development...however in weighing Andy's Derby opinion can he indicate the last two Derby winners he selected."....or words to that effect. That question went unanswered...lol

>Will one of the jockeys be wearing a "mastercard" patch in the "Visa" triple crown?

Sure why not.

>And finally the most interesting question of all - will TGJB and Robspierre actually both cash on the same horse in the Derby?

Has Robspierre ever REALLY cashed a derby horse? I mean besides listing six with a shot?

>It take a little over 2 minutes to find out...

Quite a bit over 2 minutes this year...lol

>Chris