Postscript

Ahhhh~! Ya gotta love it. Talk cooking today. Crow's been stewing in the pot all morning, and we're promised to feast on broiled crow later on. Then there's the cooking perpetrated yesterday by Big Brown on the remainder of the Florida Derby field.

I'm trying to recall witnessing a more dominating performance. BB's prior races perhaps? Maybe Who Doctor Who as a two year old at Ak Sar Ben leaving 'em in their tracks at the 4f. Did we see a man among boys yesterday to the degree you'd have to think the Triple Crown dearth may shortly end?

How to explain this breathtaking performance? Quite obviously BB has a natural cruising speed considerably faster than most horses. Supposing it comes from a combo of size, balance in his conformation, and superior breathing. The training? Here's what shows:

3/5 1:35.3
3/19: 1:00.2
3/25 :59.1

The horse shows two works and a race in the 24 days before the race primarily slightly in sub-12s with the recent works probably carrying 130-135 lbs that jocks carry in the mornings, and, over a distance of ground if there were gallop outs. When this blog starts talking about getting performance, suspect this is the sort of stuff that we'll point to.

With 20-20 hindsight you could have predicted the race, and, a lot of people did. I backed off per prior posts primarily because I'd thought another horse would challenge this colt at which time the insufficient overall work would show. I failed to reckon this colt's ability, and we can all avoid any self-flogging from this oversight for when have we ever seen anything like this? BB literally cooked the rest of this field dragging them along in fractions none of them were trained for. As you replay the race watch the main competitors dropping off like flies. First Fierce Wind who put in a nice run precisely for the 4f he has been religiously trained for but much faster than he'd been trained, and, according to the comment by Halsey, last post, bled. Predictable, I'd say with this pace and what FW has done of late (was it humid yesterday?).

Then Elysium fields. A pace and talent problem there maybe. I'd guess EF tied up with lactic acid about the 3f. Same deal with Face the Cat due to a dearth of recent racing and soft Pletcher training was without any chance with this pace.

In truth, only the closers had any real shot to having anything left again BB EXCEPT Smooth Air, which, if you'll notice from my post of 3/27 in terms of volume had the best preparation of this field. Smooth Air had the foundation to keep plugging, and but for BB we'd be talking about SA running away from this field, though without BB to fry them all first, it might have been a different race.

Interesting comment attached to my last post. Fierce Wind bled, which of course explains the fade. Hopefully Zito will find a way around that, and we'll see another impressive FW performance down the road.

My last thought would be that I hope BB survives this based on the shallow training. You could say they've rushed this colt, and we have to hope Dutrow know what he's doing

Training:
Art is off with puncture wound in chest.
Rod:
Thurs. 3/27: easy riderless
Fri. 6 x 3f fairly slow + ground work with surcingle
Sat. 6 x 3f with a few spurts. ground still very hard. ground work with horse now being driven with the long lines. handling it well. Bill O'Gorman training.