Ok thats over with

[oracle80]

Tri Crown and tri crown season are done.
ANybody like anything a whole lot today anyplace?

[Gander]

I like Leave Me Alone in the Vagrancy, but then again I have liked her in many spots before. Do you have any thoughts on this race?

I wish there were a few more horses in this race to make the odds a bit better.

[PSH]

Asmussen has another 2YO at Chruchill Downs in race 5 that probably is cranked up for a First Time Start. Expect 2-1...

[Pedigree Ann]

I've been away on a family visitation vacation and I just want to add one thing to whatever has been said about the Belmont. The horses whom we considered top of the barrel are still the top of the barrel; the proven form said that Jazil, Bluegrass Cat, Steppenwolfer and Sunriver were better than the rest of these and so it proved. Bob and John just didn't stay -12f is too far for him - but he should rebound when backed up to 8-9f. This crop has an established group of superior performers and I look forward to seeing them take on their elders later in the year.

[oracle80]

I like Leave Me Alone in the Vagrancy, but then again I have liked her in many spots before. Do you have any thoughts on this race?

I wish there were a few more horses in this race to make the odds a bit better.
Tim I'd love to beat Dubai escapade as she won on a megabias last time and also appears set for a bounce off a lifetime top but am having a hard time taking a real stance against her with anyone specific. LOL!! I like the horse you like, Leave me Alone as the horse with the best shot. Should Dubai and Smokey hook up, she looks like the one who can pick up the pieces. Leave me Alone caught a sharp behaving Badly two back and ran well for 2nd. last time out she was foolishly rated in a route race behind slow fractions when her only real chance was to send. Im tossing that race out. I like her!!!

[oracle80]

I also love Ebony Rose today Tim. I bet her last time and she won at pimlico but her trip was not ideal. That win was on yielding turf so we know she can handle todays conditions. Shes gonna be my single in the late pik's.

[PSH]

Only problem with that selection might be the jock....

:(

[oracle80]

Only problem with that selection might be the jock....

:(

Hey a lot of what I say about Gomez is out of frustration and tongue in cheek to knock those who were saying he was better than or as good as johnny.
Want me to be brutally honest? Johnny was Gomez for about ten years. Johnny always had all the physical tools and teased us into thinking he was going to be what he is now for a lot of years. I used to curse Johnny out the way i curse out Gomez now. Johnny used to do the same things Gomez does now, ride 4 winners and look like Cordero one day, and then go into a two week schneid that would have you in a straightjacket. Then one year, he just got it all and it clicked.
Gomez may still get it yet. His rides are never bad in terms of RIDING. Hes as strong as an ox and very agile and fearless. But hes at a differeent place and level now, and he has to start thinking his rides through before he gets on the horse. I mean, he knew that Bling had drawn the rail for three days, he had three days to look at pp's. You'd think after watching the undercard and figuring being right on the rail wasn't exactly the place to be, and the fact that his horse could rate, that he would have been thinking from the get go, break as well as possible and start looking for a way outside for a clear run. I could see what was gonna happen on the backside and was quite gleeful!!! He never even looked to explore the most obvious option.
Make no mistake about it though, his agent is the best in the business bar none, and the more he rides here on top horses the more he is gonna learn.
I just think that before he hit this high level he wasn't crafting his rides, and now he has to learn to think them through and craft them. The difference at the very highest level in stakes races is often the trip or a photo. Thts why Bailey won so many photos and stakes. he always thought the rides through and had his mount in the right spot. Rididng a thousand pound animal at 35 MPH in close proximity to other animals doing the same is not easy, as a matter of fact I think all those guys are insane, you couldn't drag me on a horse in a field just to gallop. No way, scary stuff.
Gomez may eventully get the concept that he has to focus on the intellectual aspects of riding and put it all together in a more consistent manner yet. He is capable of giving a mind blowing ride at any time. Hes also capable of causing a swearing and cursinig fit like noone else alive.

[PSH]

One assumes to get to the next level that he has to have the intellect (brains) to achieve that....

As we know, many of these riders have the ability and not the brains.... Some can overcome that by their ability regardless (PVal) comes to mind...
That said, if one does not have the brains or the desire than they will never get to the level of Bailey, Johnny V., Pincay, R. Baze out here. Then again, we are talking about the cream of the crop - Hall of Famers...

PSH

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

i told you who i like today dont forget...

[Downthestretch55]

I like Leave Me Alone in the Vagrancy, but then again I have liked her in many spots before. Do you have any thoughts on this race?

I wish there were a few more horses in this race to make the odds a bit better.
Smokey Glacken looks likely to me...just my 2 cents.
Go Jim J!

DTS