It is easy to make opinions about other people's investments. You have to do what is best for your horse. The best thing in my opinion would to take the 5 weeks and try to beat Big Brown in the Belmont, if he makes it there undefeated.

no, you're right. i would think one or two horses from yesterday, who may not want any part of 12f, may end up in md.
my contention is that it won't be that very small field in the belmont that some are saying will be there.
but someone, or two, will try to beat him in maryland...if he shows up.

So has anyone been over to the barn this morning, and looked at Big Brown's feet? (I checked Bloodhorse, and nothing). How are the front shoes holding on? Was he being walked? Sound?

Let's hope it is REALLY similar to Barbaro/Bernardini....except that Big Brown just takes a bad step and loses without injury. IEAH winning the triple crown would be horrific for racing.

you know, i'd rather big brown win the thing than suffer an injury. how ridiculous!

Why should anyone run back in 2 weeks after losing the KD ? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Would they ever consider letting Proud Spell run in the Preakness? I don't know if she could beat Big Brown, but I think she would hit the board.

yea, I think Larry Jones is thinking that exact thing today.

And on what basis are you saying that?

Kinda seems unlikely that they'd try the boys again considering what just happened to Eight Belles. Not saying that she broke down because she was trying the boys, but many interpret it that way, and I doubt they'd want to seem callous.

Agreed, two weeks rest is just not worth it for the horse, the Oaks winner with a bright future, and the connections, getting over the Derby. My opinion zero chance.

Spyder

big brown 'looked the picture of health' this morning, according to drf. he walked the shed row. dutrow says he'll stay at churchill til may 14, and ship then to md.
recapture's owner will decide tomorrow, but other than that, no one seems interested in following up their derby loss with a race vs big brown...til new york.
kentucky bear (:rolleyes: ) and el gato malo are possibles for the preakness.

No one else ran well enough yesterday to warrant going to Pimlico in 2 weeks. If you feel that you have a horse that can go a mile and a half, give him the 5 weeks off and wait for the Belmont. I think you will see Big Brown go against 5 locals and maybe 1 or 2 mid level stakes/Grade 3 type horses. People just trying to get a second place check in a big race.

yeah....but.
like dahoss said what about point given (among others)? he finished fifth in his derby...presumably not 'good enough' to warrant a trip to md. but he went, and he won and started a streak of four gr 1 million dollar wins in a row. i think it depends on the horse tho. everyone needs to consider their own horse, how he ran, whether he ran, how he came out of it, whether he can handle belmont, etc.

Point Given was considered the best horse going into the derby...realistically I don't think any of the owners or trainers actually think they can beat Big Brown on a speed favoring tight turned Pimlico course

Yeah but the winner's share is 600,000 or more. That's what will bring out the horse's. Just like in the Derby and in last year's Preakness anything can happen when the gates open.

Comparing PG to the group that ran yesterday (except Eight Bells who was awesome) is not right. Going into yesterday most people thought that this was a pretty slow/bad bunch. If you took BB and Eight Bells out of the equation and ran the race 10 times, How many different winners would you get? I know I played 5 horses in differnent combos and not one hit the board. The bottom line is that there are still alot of 3 year old races left in the campaign, Why rush into a race in 2 weeks against a horse that won for fun yesterday while being 4 wide the entire race, when there are better spots to run down the road? This might be a big year for the West Virginia Derby!

You need to win to get the winners share, and most of the trainers of the also rans don't think they will beat Big Brown. Otherwise they would be considering it. There are a lot of Stakes races coming up whose winners purse will be larger than the 2nd place money in the Preakness.

The Preakness pays $200,000 for second and $110,000 for third, plus you get a Grade 1 stakes placing and some media attention before the race. For those reasons alone, some of the Derby shooters will show up.