Really underestimated the jockey in Post/Gate 2O no less (*new gate effective) taking on world class and US jockey titans. Great ride Sonny Leon. A maiden voyage Derby win and 1st stakes win.

https://www.americasbestracing.net/jockeys/sonny-leon

And anybody notice from the chart, the top NINE finishers were closers?

Since I know some of you like to crunch data, here are the fractional times for each horse:

Distance Travelled

1/4

1/2

3/4

Mile

Finish

Field Times

21.78

45.36

1:10.33

1:36.96

2:02.61

1

21

Rich Strike

23.08[19]

47.32[18]

1:12.02[18]

1:38.31[14]

2:02.61[01]

2

3

Epicenter

22.28[08]

46.20[08]

1:10.88[06]

1:37.08[03]

2:02.72[02]

3

10

Zandon

22.48[10]

46.49[12]

1:11.25[12]

1:37.45[04]

2:02.84[03]

4

13

Simplification

22.84[16]

Small barns had their horses ready. Imagine this tri. Trakus data, adjusted for ground loss.

horse ft/sec

Rich Strike 55.10154147

Simplification 54.90339341

Barber Road 54.78119935

Mo Donegal 54.6376694

Epicenter 54.57953064

Zandon 54.42038424

Tawny Port 54.35909901

Tiz the Bomb 54.27509294

Smile Happy 54.00643604

Zozos 53.79090184

Classic Causeway 53.75667278

White Abarrio 53.7497024

Crown Pride (JPN) 53.42029908

Taiba 53.38268067

Happy Jack 53.3174414

Messier 53.0823006

Charge It 52.97534935

Cyberknife 52.05542725

Pioneer of Medina 51.1752702

Summer Is Tomorrow 50.0037428

Good stuff Tex.

And to All

For the first time in Tri play Dogs realized when the bomb gets up late for 3rd and don't have it. One might say, hey,  didn't or couldn't use him underneath. But. This guy was On Top.

I would say perhaps 8 of the 9....Epicenter in 10 4/5 was part of the speed, yes?

He was 6 lengths back at the 1/4 and 5 1/4 lengths at the 1/2.... would you call that a P or an E/P trip?

The pace was so ridiculous it was like a throwback to the old "cheap speed" days when sprinters would get in the field because of graded earnings.

Dogs mentioned angle...

"Hoofnote: Animal Kingdom campaign came by way of turf to Turfway Park plastic track to win Derby. This is about exactly what Tiz the Bomb's campaign is. He missed the track 9fl record by a needed nostril."

 ...But didn't have the Tri in that Tiz the Bomb beat the Ky Derby winner by 4 positions in record time.

Yet in this instance in a rematch when 2 are going at it again (usually going longer) can be shorter...got to use them both. With the notion of tuning the table in the next as an axiom 

The closers were winning all day and you knew the front was going to back up with as fast as they went out.  

The other half was one E type and all E/Ps with a lot of high Q points. Fastest I expected was :23 + change and 46 + change. Never :22 or :45. Half the field misread the pace.

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this already, but Rich Strike has one of the strangest breeding I’ve seen. He is so inbred, it’s no surprise he tried to “eat” the outrider after the race. They may as well have named Hannibal! Smart Strike all over the place. He was bred by a big time org, then claimed for $30k. The new owners struck it rich indeed!