Sunday June 6, 2010

Recapping the Belmont:  Over the next few days I will post the figures for the Belmont, but today I just want to comment on the visual.  The Trip Drosselmeyer had was more difficult than the trip any other horse had, unless their was a negative rail bias.  Which at this time I don’t believe existed.  The track seemed perfectly honest, so Drosselmeyer lost ground to Fly Down and First Dude all the way around the track.  And he didn’t save any appreciable energy early as he was always in attendance to the pace, save for a couple of lengths at most.  So while Frist Dude was 24 plus in the first quarter and 49 to the half, Drosselmeyer was right there at 49 and a piece, while losing some significant ground through the first turn (and the far turn)!  That being said, I thought the winner should have been Fly Down after looking at the visual, but I think Drosselmeyer was most deserving in the same breath.  Here is my point, it took J R Velasquez nearly the entire 1 1/2 mile to “uncover” Fly Down.  Until that point, Fly Down raced as if he was laboring to keep up.  At the 3/16th pole, he actually shuffled back to 6th and then after “uncovering”  he mowed everyone down except Drosselmeyer.    From the looks of things, if the race went another 1/16th further, Fly Down would have won “handily”.   So who is at fault, is it the jockey for not getting his horse to the clear sooner, or is it the horse for being too finicky and not willing to stick his nose into the fray — requiring a more pristine trip.  And is this typical of the horse or is this a new development?   Then the next question, who is the best horse;  the faster horse that needs special handling or the one that can take on difficult challenges still pushing ahead with a certain gameness.  I guess it might be said that the classy horse isn’t always the faster horse!   Congrats to those who took Drosselmeyer at 13/1, it proved to be a very good and tough bet to cash!  As for J R Velasquez, I find no fault, their are just so many things to deal with and when your horse won’t accelerate until everything is just so suitable, then the horse is just making things more difficult.   I guess Fly North really just wants to go 2 miles or more!

Today’s Free Play was given out on Race Day Las Vegas, in the 7th Race. It’s truely a BEST BET, even though I don’t believe in Best Bets.  The horse is top rated on the Power Page and in the 1st position on the KHSS…So just pick up either product and you will find the play.  The morinng line is more than generous!