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D-Day and Sir Winston…

Even though I did not care for Sir Winston as a horse, I certainly have the greatest admiration for Sir Winston as a leader!  So maybe it’s a good time to connect Sir Winston with the 75th anniversary of D-Day.  For me, that would have been the handicapping angle I would have had to use to make Sir Winston.  But I do want make a note, that Mike Welsh of the Daily Racing Form — Clocker extraordinaire – did make mention that Sir Winston was in fine form.  But he did also make some very positive comments about several others including War of Will.  So if yo like to follow a CLOCKERs opinion and combine that with a price, this horse was playable on that approach as well.

I for one, live an die with form cycles.  But you are always allowed to stray a little here and there.

A quick comment on the race,  the fractions were too even, this put a horse in the #9 & #10 post, such as War of Will and Tacitus wide throughout.  With a more lively pace, the field stretches out and horses from the outside can find a path closer to the rail.  This was very important today, with the Rail being a big asset.  Once again, as we discussed on the Race Day Show this morning, that the Belmont ground crew has been making the track fast and the rail very fast for several of the Belmont over the past several years.  This turned out to be the case.  Mid-card, I thought the bias might have been neutralizing, but the rail continued to be very good right through the end of the card, when Marconi was one of 8 of 9 winners that raced on or very close to the rail for more than 1/2 of the race.  I can’t help but reflect upon Bob Baffert’s wisdom, that never let’s the pace dictate against him.  He will always add runners to make sure his stud horse is protected.  Bill Mott, should have entered a rabbit who would run 23 3/5,  47 2/5,  1:11 4/5 fractions at a minimum.  

War of Will didn’t really have it today, but Tacitus might have run the best race, while parked wide in both Turns.  This would be classified as a “D-D” trip.  And a D-D trip is almost never a winning trip, in any competitive type of race.  And there was nothing about Tacitus that set him miles apart from the field.  He was a deserving favorite from my handicapping and he ran to his odds, clearly he would have won this race a good percentage of the time but by no means was he a LOCK.  So for those of us, who would have like to see Tacitus turn up in the winner’s circle, it would have been a benefit to him if Bill Mott had entered a rabbit!

There was plenty of action in the race, and as for time, it was very reasonable.  Clearly, this group is pretty even matched but none are stellar, at least so far.  While I might classify this 3-year old crop as underwhelming; as attested to by the Woody Stephens winner.  We get the feeling with this group, no matter the race, each race is won by someone who is sorta jumping up out of the blue.  What I am trying to say, Hog Creek Hustle and Sir Winston had much in common today…  Both were eligible for NW2, had never won a Graded Stakes race and came away with the two Grade 1 races for 3-year olds. And while their resume’s were weakfish, they had participated and occasionally got a minor-piece in some stakes company.  So they were capable, when able – to put it all together.  And that’s a form or racing, we can do well with over the long haul... but for today… I have to tip my hat to those who cashed. 

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