Horses on our list Racing  2/18/23
Oaklawn Park:
Race 5: MSW 8f Dirt 11 entries
#9 Route Runner  12-1  FINISHED OTM
_
Oaklawn race 6 : 8.5 f dirt Allow Oc $100.000 9 entered
#8 Ben's Legacy 10-1    FINISHED OTM
---
Fairgrounds Race 8: AllOC $80,000 8.5f dirt 7 entered
#4 Tapit Shoes 9-2  3RD Place, Race  won by Deningon
---
Laurel Park : Race 4: Miracle Wood Stks 1 Mile Dirt:
#3 Prince Of Jericho finished 2nd 7 entries

-

Suggest comparing race 8 at Fairgrounds for 3 yr olds to the Risen Star

the First 4 were competitive and the splits for the 8.5f race today  is better
than the splits for the Risen Star field coming into todays race. 

Denington was 1st and I tossed him off our list earlier, Tapit Shoes was 3rd, First  Defender 4th.

Banishing OTM the Chalk. Tapit Shoes is on our list.

Denington the only one in race not on Lasix too.  Track looked tiring late as well, probably a good stamina-building race.  Wonder what the numbers will be, perhaps sneakily better than Beyer will post.

I don't know the variant, the raw time in the Risen Star was 12 Lengths slower than Epicenter time last year.

DogsUpWired said...

And agree, 'some may be doing not enough, soon enough...but the recipe to get in the Derby and at the Derby finish line is not a constant practice

How about just gate training your horse, you know, something that all racehorses have to learn.  Crupi is a chronically poor gate horse, people talked about it before the race.....and then he shows it again in the Risen Star.   Chronic.  There's no point continuing on the trail til you have your horse ready and able to do the most basic  and sundry things that even low level horses master. 

Just because best horses are given to super trainers (which is only reason WHY some of them became super trainers as they are starting out with priviledged breedings) doesn't mean they are great trainers..  That's all I want to see, a more level playing field. 

Let me ask you to make pasta primavera and you get the heavy cream fresh from the cow and real bacon.......and I have to use 9 month old powdered milk and soy protein fake bacon bits.........  Then you get chef of the year.  See how that works?

Ditto Jockeys.   i spent the day deligihtedly betting against Rosario  he does this all the time, he lost every race today except one and it was an utter chalk horse. 

Case in point:   Before the South West Stakes who had the highest record of wins of that race in the history books?  Bejarano. (he achieved that before he was stabled at oaklawn).   Now that he;s actually AT Oaklawn, riding day in and day out.....and is like 3rd in the jock ratings there, imagine my surprise when he gets tossed off the SW stakes horse for a "super rider".     Why?    See this is how it is.  The little guys have zero way to ever get to the top.   Should have kept Bejarano on.  But they didn't. 

Just like Hal Wiggins lost Rachel Alexandra, and Helen Pitts lost Curlin.  Those horses were already champions, like Summer Bird "took" Tm Ice to the TC.......and that's because nobody took  the horse away from him, despite that Tim Ice really wasn't a super trainer or even one of the best ones at his track.    THE HORSES DO IT. They are the ones who make or break you.   

Curlin was already conditioned the best he was ever going to be, from yearling to 3.....that's why he didn't set foot on a racetrack til he was 3.   Pitts didn't have him ready yet.  Rachel was already a fully capable horse.   That's why "the rich guy" bought them out from under them.  He knew.  
 

As I re-watched all the two turn dirt races at FG today, it was clear that speed was not holding, and that the rail was super dead.  It made Sun Thunder's run even more impressive to me, coming through on the rail and holding.

Has anybody seen the Derby Winner this year, I haven't and its almost March?
I think the field for the Risen Star are slow as a group, not much after 8f.
--  

I need to see Forte. Hopefully he will look better than Hoosier Philly.

Forte I have Bad vibes off since 11/4 /22 and Pletcher I bet he puts

Forte in one non point race with Lasix  and after for Cox and Pletcher the Pattern

is good for 2 races after. Cyberknife special. ? Red Flag Anyway.

Hoosier Philly might have an injury from that stumble out of the gate.