Final Derby Thoughts

[oriolegirl]

Well as is obvious, no one had the winner. He should have been 200-1 not 80-1.

Epicenter and Zandon ran to their odds. Two good horses. I didn't like Epicenter that much (we do share the same birthday), but I pegged Zandon for 3rd.

I made a small win and place saver on Simplification as I thought 35-1 on him was ridiculous. He ran well.

Mo Donegal ran well but with had too much to do.

White Abarrio was a big disappointment. I had some doubts about his closing fractions and lack of stamina breeding and I guess they were well founded.

The best thing about the race was the no shows by Messier and Taiba. I took a strong stand against them. Taiba was one of the biggest sucker bets in history. The SA Derby took a lot out of him, he wasn't training that well and to expect a horse to come from 6 horse fields to a 20 horse Calvary charge at 1 1/4 miles in just his 3rd start!! Are you kidding me??? And at 5-1 yet.

Steve

[quickcall]

Good to see that playing ‘numbers’ still can pay off in the Derby.

It would interesting to see the camera shot of the Asmussen clan from the final furlong pole, to the wire.

[shoes]

The pace was suicidal,(fastest since Bodemeister?). I knew it was setting up for a closer and hoped it would be Zandon. Rich Strike has closed pretty well in every race, albeit not to win, and at shorter distances. He needed every bit of the 1 1/4 yesterday. Jockey gave him a great ride that last passing move in the stretch which allowed him to a clear path to run at the leaders was masterful.