Derby Thoughts

Congrats to Win Star farm. Need a dozen more like them.

Calvin Borel's thought process: I am on the best part of the track. Good. 3 lengths. I am saving ground all the way around. Good. 3 lengths. Riders to my outside. Fools.

Making Borel's day? same errors by the opposition vs. himself, race after race?

How does a jock ride this well? Sports IQ, Chess IQ, you can have one without the other as I have observed it on the basketball court at numerous downtown YMCAs. There you watch street boys cleverly passing, setting up the opposition, sorting their way through complex interaction. Nobody truly dumb could do this, and, you think that this sort of brilliance and artistry on display requires some sort of very high intelligence that positively must be unrelated to IQ as we normally consider. Unnecessary to understand Shakespeare to be adept at pattern recognition in fast moving sport, in fact, Shakespeare may be a hindrance.

Plecher? I have nothing against him. And, nothing particularly for him. How highly is it possible to consider the Derby winning trainer that also managed to screw up the Derby favorite?

Best mare, best sire, best trainer, best facilities best operation finally win the Derby on the same day that $4500.00 yearling purchase Atta Boy Roy and his State of Washington trainer Valorie Lund take the CD stakes. While cheap horses dominate major stakes of late, looking at the Derby field pedigrees, possibly when the rubber hits the road, quality of breeding does show.

Haskins: pedigree clearly make Stately Victor a mudder. The rider Alan Garcia: "My horse didn't seem to like the track". Lol. Haskin's Derby pick (and Lenny) was Lookin at Lucky. Stable Boy picked Super Saver without hesitation.

My Derby Pick: Conveyance, good lawdy. Congrats to those that had SS!

Today's major sports sites front pages--SI, ESPN, Sporting News, CBS Sports, barely a whiff of the Derby. NTRA marketing department that completely out to lunch?

Ice Box, the 2nd most ill-trained horse in this field misses by a rat's whisker. What's going on? To quote myself:

"McPeek: Noble's Promise: best construction for navigating muddy track, though. And, a very good horse.

Ditto, throw out due to trainer: Jackson Bend, Ice Box."

The horses prominent in the stretch seemed horses built to the conditions, although Super Saver seems a stoutly built individual.

Nice Derby. Looked to me a talented field.