Court Vision???

[jimbo66]

Doing something very dangerous to do when preparing for the derby today.  I was watching race replays of all the top contenders WITHOUT having the figures they ran, and just getting my visual impressions of each.

Anybody have any ideas what happened to court vision this year?  His late run in the Iroquis, at Churchill Downs, was probably the most impressive turn of late foot from a 2 year old last year.  

Now, he comes back this year and doesn\'t run a step in the Fountain of Youth, which can be excused by Mott not having him wound tight off the layoff.

Then Gomez makes the decision to stay with him over a seemingly more highly thought of Colonel John before the Wood.  But when you consider the early fractions, he really ran a pretty disappointing race in the Wood.  Gomez gives the often offered and seldom believed \"he wasn\'t grabbing the track well\" excuse after the race.  

Now, they add blinkers and work him at Churchill Downs and he works a 46 half.  

So, contender or pretender?

I have to like Gomez negotiating traffic in a large field and I like Mott to get a horse ready, although he isn\'t a triple crown trainer.

[Wrongly]

Jimbo

You may want to watch the FOY again.  Court Vision was closing, really not a bad race for first off the layoff but the Wood was disappointing.

[jbelfior]

I think someone may come out of the Wood and run better in the Derby than most people expect.

Removing the negatives of a tortoise like final 3/8th\'s and a slow overall time, tiring tracks like the one experienced at Aqueduct on Wood day tend to provide the kind of conditioning normally reserved for the turf.

That being said, my tickets will not include COURT VISION.



Good Luck,
Joe B.

[fkach]

>Anybody have any ideas what happened to court vision this year? His late run in the Iroquis, at Churchill Downs, was probably the most impressive turn of late foot from a 2 year old last year. <

I think his move in the Iroquis was mostly an optical illusion. He closed off a very fast pace.

On a relative basis, it\'s hard to make a case for him based on the Wood. He\'s never going to get a better pace setup than he got in the Wood, but he still couldn\'t catch War Pass or Tale of Ekati. You can argue that he lost a ton of ground on the second turn, but a horse with his style often will.

IMO, a 46 work from a horse with his style and no record of working fast like that is generally an indication of an improved effort to come.

I have mixed feelings about him. He hasn\'t been as good as several of the others, but he\'s probably going to get another decent pace setup and looks set to run an improved effort (probably a top). With a decent trip I think he could easily hit the board, but I can\'t see a win unless the pace collapses (not impossible).

[bellsbendboy]

In a very enigmatic year,  Court Vision, seems simple.  He has never ran fast enough to contend, but he will appreciate the race shape and is one of perhaps a handful who will get the trip.  

The Gulch colt out of a full to Summer Squall should be ignored by the horizontal crowd... yet embraced by the vertical players looking to fill the bottom spots in the exotics. BBB

[alm]

The workout means bupkiss...every decent quality horse can work fast...does anybody have any idea what kind of number he got in the Wood?

[miff]

Jim,

Stories written in the trade papers have kinda influenced our thinking on that over the years and remember Mott was only supposed to be a grass trainer and could not train 2 yr olds according to some.I don\'t believe there is such a thing as a triple crown trainer and feel strongly that a so called \"average\" trainer would win the derby if he had the best horse.

Anyway,blinkers on is what I see as a desperation move with a horse that has not really developed from last year so far. I think Gomez made that suggestion.Kinda empty in the Wood(considering the pace and his trip) and unable to run down a \"walking\" but courageous WP the last eighth.His win over the CD surface is his only plus, imo.

I think Anderson made a judgement call taking off Col John to stay with Court Vision. Not surprising, Anderson feels that figs don\'t mean much going in to the derby since he\'s got Gomez riding a slow rat on this occasion.

Opinions aside, he\'s too slow unless he jumps way forward in two weeks.Starting to like a slow rat bomb a little, Adriano after watching the replay. Although poly and slowish, thought he ran strongly throughout the race and Prado stays here after working the horse on Wed.Have been lucky with trainer Motion.


Good Luck,
Mike

[alm]

Yikes.