Its very clear that we now have a new Derby Favorite. His name is Big Jerry Brown \"BJB\".
First a little race rehash. There was some serious bumping early and some horses ran hard after the trouble (Nistle\'s Crunch and Hey Byrn) and others didn\'t pick up a hoof after the fisticuffs. (Elysium Fields and BB Frank). Not that BB was ever a factor.
Let\'s wait for the post race reports regarding which horses took the worst of it and deserve another chance. Currently, I believe Nistle\'s Crunch and Hey Byrn deserve next race consideration upon trouble yesterday. I was very impressed with Nistle\'s Crunch. It was a very big effort to the stretch and I think Nistle\'s will make some waves if they keep him away from BJB.
As far as BJB he did get erratic in the stretch, but he was pulling further away doing so. It could have been an indicator of fatigue or injury. It could have been that the first big crowd he saw got him off stride. I\'ll let the reports in the coming weeks influence my decision which.
BJB could come up with a hoof problem. Theres five weeks to hear about it. He could meet a resurgent War Pass in a pace duel, we\'ll have to wait upon War Pass\'s redemption as well. But one thing you can\'t dismiss is the race itself. An older Electrify in the last race of the day ran a number in the Zip to -2 range. (I\'m leaning to -2). That puts BJB right there and I think we have a new Kentucky Derby Favorite and this time, he\'s legit.
Ka-Ching
SoCalMan2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> jimbo66 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Miff,
> >
> > It certainly looks like a big figure, would
> seem
> > to have to be in negative territory, as he not
> > only ran 3 seconds faster than the fillies, but
> > also was wide on the first and probably the 2
> path
> > on the 2nd turn (not sure why he did that).
> >
> > But if he gets a negative 3ish, it is time to
> > break out the \"bounce\" study of 3 year olds who
> > ran big negative numbers in the spring of their
> 3
> > year old season and how poorly most ran in the
> > Derby itself.
> >
> > Bandini ran a negative 3ish
> > Bellamy Road ran a negative 5ish
> > Sweetnorthernsait ran a negative 2ish
> > Afleet Alex ran a negative 2ish
> > Greeley\'s Galay ran a negative 2ish
> >
> > Those horses I remember. Smarty Jones is the
> only
> > one that comes to mind that actually ran a big
> > number in the Derby off the big negative number
> > and if you remember, he actually won the derby
> > with 2 points lower than his big arkansas race
> > (southwest?)
> >
> > With a foundation of just 3 races and bad feet,
> > Big Brown will be hardpressed to turn in a big
> > performance in the derby off of what almost
> > assuredly is a 3-4 point new top. Although, he
> > will get the 5 weeks.
> >
> > We\'ll see.
>
> One thing to keep in mind about Big Brown is his
> pattern. Assuming the number comes out in the
> vicinity where people think it will come out, we
> will have a horse that has still not reacted.
> Will need to go back and look at the negative
> figure study and see which horses had crossed into
> negative territory prior to ever giving a
> reaction. To me, Big Brown is completely
> uncharted territory because he still has only
> three races and is still improving and learning.
> I shudder to give a horse a bounce that has not
> yet given me a bounce. Call me crazy, but I am
> rapidly feeling like this derby is getting a lot
> less interesting from a betting standpoint (maybe
> the figures will look different a month from now
> and i will feel differently, but right now it
> looks like a race with no handhold to find a wise
> guy position).