Go back to California Mike

[sekrah]

Embarassing performance in the stretch.   Most overrated jockey on the planet.

[Ill-bred]

He rode Paynter like he was on Bodemeister. And even still, he might have won had he not allowed Union Rags to pass on the rail.

[Silver Charm]

Having watched the replay a time or two it is mindbobbling he let it open as easily as he did. Other than waiting JV just got what he needed and came on thro to win by a head. Really almost inexcusable as easy as he let him do it

[MO]

Mike already on record admitting the mistake of opening up the rail.

This was the worst Belmont field I have ever seen. A glorified overnight stakes race. They should have reduced the purse after the scratch of IHA to $100,000. That\'s all this field was worth.............

[P-Dub]

sekrah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Embarassing performance in the stretch.   Most
> overrated jockey on the planet.


He isn\'t the most overrated. I don\'t think 15 BC winners - which by the way Mr Conspiracy Theorist, is more than anyone else - makes you overrated.

He made a tactical error, something he admitted.  I\'m sure Shoemaker never made a mistake.

You are a real piece of work.

[Silver Charm]

Interesting to hear Johnny V say he was looking for Mike to go.to his pateneted left hand down the lane on a front runner. I am sure hoping he would drift from the whip as fatigue was setting in. Sure enough he got it.

BTW-they must not have a Big Screen in the Belmont Infield because at Pimlico Mike looked left twice at the one there. The last time for more than an eye flash. Maybe if the same sitiation here he at least.makes it tight on Union Rag. But here he had two full paths to run thru....UGH!!

[miff]

Tried to rouse Paynter going left handed late causing drift, won a zillion times doing that. Wonder if he knew UR was down in there.Perfect tactical ride sending to clear and then controlling while slowing it down.

Shuts the rail,he wins and is credited with great ride....but!

[MO]

Deleted.

[plasticman]

That cost me a ton. I had a huge tri Paynter/few contenders/4. I broke even on the race on a saver bet, but i would have made a nice hit if Mikey had did what he was supposed to do.

[sekrah]

Same here plastic.  What a shame.   California has the best horses and the most harebrained jockeys.  Go figure.

[jimbo66]

Lots of sour grapes on this board after the race.  Maybe Vito from the other board was right about this board.

MO,

You must be a very very young man if this was the worst Belmont field you have seen.  Union Rags is a multiple stakes winner and was both the winter book derby favorite and the overwhelming Derby favorite until March 31st or so.  You forgot about Commendable, Ruler on Ice, D\'Tara, Jazil, etc.etc.

TGJB,

Will go on record now that you are wrong about Union Rags being a \'bet against\' in his next two races.  Yeah, his figure won\'t be great for today.  But that is a one-dimensional analysis that is way short in this case of being enough to measure this horse.  First off, off the last two races/trips, where he ran maybe 1/16th of a mile in the Florida DErby and similar in the Kentucky Derby, he was likely SHORT of being fit to run a 1 1/2.  He also was likely running a distance that is beyond what he wants to run.  Yes, I know none of our horses are bred to run 1 1/2 miles on dirt, but as many people have said, Dixie Union was worse than most.  He also is a horse that has proven he does NOT want to be on the rail, despite it being the shortest distance between two points.  I would bet pretty good money the instructions from Matz today were NOT to keep this big gangly guy pinned down on the inside all race.  He had no chance to get him off.  The ground he saved may have been offset by the fact that the rail is not the spot this horse wants to be in.  

Bottom line is that I am with Michael D that this horse crashes through the 2 or whatever figure he gets this summer. He is a very very good horse and will prove that the balance of the year IMO.

[slewzapper]

Though I agree UR was not at his best trip (was that the best trip for any of them?), he was set up for a peak performance. He has been in constant training for months towards producing a peak effort in the spring, and didn\'t have to deal with reacting after a peak effort, unlike Paynter (especially since that one being lightly raced).

Expecting a \"0\" player or two come Travers time, unclear which Grade 1 that day he would have a better chance of winning.

[Holybull1]

*IF* Smith had not let Rags through, this board would be up in arms about the terrible ride Johnny V gave him by not getting him outside to run down the stretch.

[jimbo66]

Holybull,

I would agree with you.  Having a lot of money riding with Union Rags I can only tell you that during the race i was NOT happy with where Johnny V had the horse.  Yes, Paynter drifted and Smith hit him left-handed, opening up a hole to let Johnny V go through, but going 1 1/2 on dirt, and believing you are on the best horse, you are not supposed to be waiting for a hole in deep stretch, especially when only 3 horses are even on the screen.

Slewzapper,

Agreed, that by Travers time, multiple horses will be running in the 0 to negative 2 range.  But no doubt that barring injury, Union Rags will be looking at Travers, not King\'s Bishop.  And he will be runing negative numbers by then.  I will have no problem betting that.  As Miff said in a different post, judging ability for 3 year old\'s based on figs they run in 1 1/2 mile races is not the way to go.

Jim

[Rich Curtis]

Jimbo wrote:

  \"[UR] also is a horse that has proven he does NOT want to be on the rail,\"

   It may well be the case that he doesn\'t like being on the rail. But I\'m wondering whether there is any evidence that spending most of the race on the rail hurts his performance in any way. Is there any evidence for this on figures?