Wood

[jbelfior]

I did not like Verrazano\'s pull-up. I think that\'s about as far as he wants to go. Elnaawi a huge disappointment; thought he was better than that.

Good Luck,
Joe B

[miff]

Mjellish,

NI charged him finishing a close second,NI has not beaten any field except maidens. Rudy reports Vyjack bled yesterday but no excuse,he hung last 70 yards.You fail to note the difficulty Verr had getting past a hopeless slug in front of him.The top 3 towered over most in there, they ran 1,2,3, no real surprise they ran off from the rest given their position and slow 6f.

Time aside,I would have bet that Verr would have drawn off by a few lengths based on what I thought he had shown in his prior races.Verranzano has never faced adversity,in and among horses,and his halo is gone. A contender for sure, quick from the gate, smooth, athletic.More Than Ready rear it\'s head yesterday late?TAP spoke of Verr in the same breath,ability wise, to Escanderaya, why I felt he ran ordinary yesterday.

Mike

[big18741]

More Than Ready hit the wall at nine furlongs.

Half Brother El Padrino same idea.

[covelj70]

Hey MJ,

Hope you are well

Just to be clear, I compared Revolutionary to Union Rags, not Verazzano

Maybe others made UR vs. V comparison that I missed.

No big deal either way.

Hope you are great.

[jimbo66]

MJ

I guess that is what makes this game interesting.  People can watch the same thing and yet interpret it differently.  

I saw everything u said about Verrazano\'s race.  But in the end, like miff, I was disappointed with the margin. I feel like I have seen that race hundreds of times in my life.  The best horse, sitting off a glacial pace, stalking a dog.   And IMO when the best horse gets that trip he is supposed to be dominant in the stretch. Not mediocre.   When I saw the 49 half, I would have taken Verrazano minus 3 lengths and bet quite a bit.

As for golden cents. I will be shocked if he is over bet. Nobody thought he would get 1 1/8 let alone the derby distance.  Unless u consider 10-1 or higher as over bet.  Pitino factor irrelevant in derby sized pools.  

Jim

[sighthound]

I think what everyone is forgetting is there was no way Verrazano was going to do more than necessary his last prep before Derby.  Again, he was basically hand-ridden to finish, with two crosses and one whip smack to keep him focused.  No surprise to me second-half-of-race time was pedestrian - the horse wasn\'t cranked up at top of the lane.

[Fairmount1]

Dick Jerardi explained on Steve Byk\'s (Kasept\'s) Night School Hour on Tuesday that Mark Hopkins increased the Beyer Figure by 5 points because the horses couldn\'t come home any faster and because they are trying to give the \"best version of the truth\" although noting it would be difficult for Hopkins to feel really confident about the number he assigned.  He also noted that if it\'s a close call, say 69 versus 70, he (Jerardi) will always go with the higher number when assigning a fig to a race.    

So, by the clock\'s final time only, Verrazano earned a 90 Beyer Figure.  But Beyer\'s associates increased it to 95 for us dumb handicappers who couldn\'t figure out that pace didn\'t play a part in the final number....

On another note, has anyone confirmed if that\'s an error on the Carter for the 6 furlong time?  1:09.79 (chart time on equibase) versus 1:08.79 (video time listed on nyra)