Slow Belmont

[miff]

Beyer gave a somewhat generous 100 for the Belmont.The top three,from the quarter pole, got the last quarter in 26+ seconds with the winner grinding past them late.Slowish raw final time considering a very glib surface all day and a middle half in 50.4.Guess this distance is just too much for most 3yr olds.

Think Calvin \"Arcaro\"pulled the trigger too early and into the fastest late quarter(the 5th in 23.4).Claims the horse was pulling him down the backside but he\'s knows better than anyone,so I guess thats what happened.Is there an analyst worse than the second guessing Jerry Bailey.


Mike

[alm]

Couldn\'t agree more with all your points.

When Secretariat won it, we all commented on how fast Belmont was playing that day...unbelievable really.  So his final time was discounted by some people.

Well, it was pretty quick yesterday too, but these plugs only ran an OK time in the Belmont.  I can\'t wait to see the TG numbers on this one.

As for Calvin, his prerace comment that his lack of experience at Belmont meant nothing, reminds me that Stuart Elliott said the same thing before he cooked Smarty Jones by starting his move halfway through the race.  These top jockeys from one mile ovals just don\'t seem to understand there are 6 furlongs left at that point.  Bad mistake.

[properch]

Bailey would probably dead heat with Hank Greenberg. Bailey is probably not eager to have his ride aboard Empire Maker in the Ky. Derby critiqued by his peers.

[properch]

The problem was the horse, MTB wasn\'t able to fire the same shot he had at CD or Pim. I think Borel understands the difference between riding at Delta, Churchill and Belmont

[sekrah]

MTB was acting up in the paddock more than he did in the other races.. Clearly something was different with him today..

I agree with Borel that MTB was tugging to go on the backstretch.  MTB was able to rate for 7-8 furlongs in all 3 TC races.. Unfortunantly a one-run horse needs to wait for 9f in the Belmont.

[BitPlayer]

My immediate reaction to the post-race discussion of Borel\'s ride was gratitude that Mike Smith hadn\'t been aboard, which would certainly have spawned yet another, prolonged \"wide Mikey\" thread.

[miff]

Thought Borel had to take that trip yesterday,just moved too soon.This horse led at the eighth pole,collapsed very late.

[APny]

No doubt Borel moved too soon...but did you see how rank SB was the whole race! I wonder if it had anything to do with the addition of blinkers.  Very rarely do you see a horse fight their jockey for 75 percent of a race and they still have enough energy to win..nevermind in a mile and a half race!

[sighthound]

Borel did just fine and made no mistakes in my eyes.  He rode the race that was dealt to him by his horse.  The most influential part of the race for MTB was the backstretch, not the turn, for me.  

The horse got 1 1/2 miles, and was trying hard to the end and never gave up (as was Dunkirk), and didn\'t lose by much.  Well done.  That\'s racing.

I was surprised Dunkirk did as well as he did - hope he comes out of it okay.

[APny]

Anyone know why Dunkirk didn\'t run at 2?  Seems like with more foundation he could\'ve been much more viable in the triple crown.

[HP]

The race is a mile and a half.  Desormeaux did a great job.  I saw Borel whipping on MTB coming around the turn and I thought maybe he believed he only had to beat the two frontrunners.  After reading all the anti-Smith stuff it\'s only fair to say that Borel\'s ride was...at least slightly questionable.  HP

[Ill-bred]

After the race Borel said \"they were going so slow up front it was ridiculous.\"

So not only did Borel misjudge the pace, he produced his horse WAY too early. I believe he set him into a full drive ~7/16 from the wire!

It was most definitely the difference between 2nd and 3rd, and perhaps more.

I\'m a big Calvin fan, but he blew this ride.

[jmetro]

Not the first time in the Belmont that we\'ve seen a beaten favorite take the path of least resistance.  You could have put any NY based jockey on Mine That Bird and he would have had basically an identical trip/ride.  

Speed and rail were good on the dirt Belmont day, unfortunately Borel was able to skim it as much as he does at Churchill.

[rosewood]

Even his agent when watching the replay when Borel sent him; said \"whoa boy! whoa boy! where you going?\"

The country bumkin got a little to full of himself and it cost him...

[miff]

MTB would be second for sure and maybe in a photo for win with a little more patient ride. Assume that Borel was being honest regarding MTB \"pulling\" down the backside.

It seems quite contrary to sheet dogma that a horse making his third TC start in 5 weeks,off two top efforts, would be energetic enough to pull.Evidence that they are all somewhat different in their ability to recover from fast races.

Mike