any early thoughts on pace?

[HP]

Post draw will be huge as it may force some to get out quick and others to try to relax and get position, depending on where they are.  It\'s hard for me to see anyone here getting an easy lead but I suppose anything is possible.

[pizzalove]

Not the fastest splits in history.  Actually Bodemeister came out solid and was not challenged for the lead.  First two fractions were fast but after that they were slower.  ran the final 6 furlongs in 1:16+.  did not deserve a derby win over weak derby field but almost stole it.  Had Trinni horse got out like he was supposed to I wonder what would of happened.

[mjellish]

This is absolutely wrong.  Bode ran incredible.  Didn\'t he go 45 109 or something insane like that and still draw away at the top of lane?

That was a day where no one passed anyone stretch all day, as I recall.  But still...

Easy lead??

[sekrah]

Agreed. Just because there wasn\'t a horse riding along beside him, doesn\'t mean it was \"easy\".

[joemama]

Maybe a better word to use than easy would be uncontested.

[HP]

Bodemeister ran his guts out.  Stupendous performance.  Reminded me a lot of Closing Argument who attended a similar pace and turned in a totally underrated race, probably because people thought Giacomo was such a fluke winner.

[Einstein66]

I agree with Pizzalove. Whenever there is a ton of speed on paper and an early drag race seems inevitable, it rarely works out that way. The jockeys and trainers figure the same thing and plan to let everyone else burn themselves out. Obviously post draw will mean a lot, but I won\'t be surprised at all if it\'s a reasonable pace.

[HP]

I just saw this in an article that came up on Yahoo.  

DORTMUND - Earlier in his career, he stalked the pace and came from behind to win. \'\'The worst thing you can do is take him back and get him behind a wall of horses,\'\' Baffert said.

[joemama]

Go wide on the first turn? -)

[sekrah]

HP,

That\'s true for many of these horses. You can\'t just take a front-running horse and decide, \"Oh, we\'ll sit back because the pace figures to be hot.\"

It doesn\'t work that way.

[HP]

That\'s a good point sekrah.  A lot of people were saying when everyone thinks there\'s a lot of speed they will be hesitant and take back.  I agree with what you are saying, they are probably going to go because you can\'t take a horse out of his game and teach him something new in this particular race.

[jbelfior]

As MJellish posted several days ago- it\'s a waste of time trying to figure out who is going to do what.
Eternal Prince was going to eliminate any chance that Spend A Buck had. Sure he was.Class pace cannot be defined by pace numbers. The best horse will adapt to the situation.

Good Luck,
Joe B