Congrats to Bob Baffert, the owners and to ME!
Picking Medina Spirit took a deep understanding of the track Bias and form cycles. After his last race on April 3rd, I had Medina Spirit moving into a positive developmental cycle and at the same time I had Rock Your World as both TOPPED OUT and Over-rated!
Why was this the case… because Santa Anita on 4/3 was an absolute biased track, favoring Inside Speed runner to at least a 4 length advantage… simultaneously, horses out in the 3 and 4 path were losing at least another 2 lengths…maybe more! This made Medina’s Spirits race much faster than it appeared and faster than Rock Your World by some 3- 4 lengths when adjusted for several other factors. Rock Your World was a public FAKE Race, while Medina Spirit ran another first rate, developmental race which was totally buried from most peoples eye! Bob Baffert, wasn’t even sure this horse belonged, but fortunately he sent him anyway!
And there is a great lesson here, if you have done your work and you trust your own judgement… never listen to anyone trying to talk you off a horse that you know in your gut is healthy and willing to race!
What I love about Bob Baffert, even though he was not certain of this horses ability ( and remember he is not a handicapper, he is a trainer – and few trainers are actually good handicappers – that’s why they train)… is that Bob Baffert put a properly prepared, totally fit horse on the track… and that was something that I was 100% certain of!
So congrats to Bob Baffert for being the consummately professional trainer he always is… and congrats to me, for sticking to my knowledge base and handicapping skills… and hopefully getting everyone who follows JJ to the winner’s window on Medina Spirit at $26.20.
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Belmont — Power Page Classic and THE PLUS!
Santa Anita — Power Page Classic and THE PLUS!
As my Mom would say, “there is nothing more exciting than watching my $2 bucks run!”