Little Mike...:D

With the way he was bet yesterday and, with his top form right now, I am shocked that Dale Romans didn't wait and run him in the Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland.

Speed carries much better at GP than KEE.

Did you watch the turf races there last spring?
Or are you just typing to increase your number of posts?

I think after this weekend Shackleford will be on the outside looking in as far as the Kentucky Derby goes.

Yes. You have a horse who obviously likes a harder turf course. He gets that at GP. He doesn't at KEE

And if you had read the article, Romans wants to go in Woodford, therefore, the Makers Mark was never a thought.

Maybe he wasn't confident Comandeered would be at Keeneland to ride shotgun and hand Little Mike the victory.

Don't get me wrong, he's a nice horse, but his run is over.

Who gets exposed first outside of GP, Little Mike or Tackleberry?

Zito's 4-time winner from yesterday. S.S. Whatever.

That's a little unfair, as Tackleberry had an amazing meet, and Little Mike is OK as well. However, that course was kind to Little Mike, and yesterday's race was a complete farce. If Johnny doesn't pull that move into the first turn, or better yet, actually rides properly, the result would likely have been much different. He took out the other speed and let Little Mike loaf along, relatively speaking. What was that horse even doing in the race...especially given that absurd game plan?

I guess he always has the Claiming Crown.

I can't stand Tackleberry, so I guess we see that differently. I feel like he's getting a lot of praise because he ran often and showed determination.

You're referring to Commandeered, right? Gomez was on McLaughlin's horse that came from the back and just missed. Commandeered was a worthless entrant in that race because his turf win was a farce. I'm still hoping Matz puts Julio Pezua on Nicanor so he can get the lead, which he desperately needs to be a factor at all.

If I had to choose which one is more likely to win a graded stake outside of Florida the rest of the year I'd go with Little Mike.

I realized it was Johnny, not Gomez, and changed it.

That horse took out the Live Oak horse into the first turn and subsequently handed the race to Little Mike. If the pace played out even remotely competitively, Little Mike probably runs third.

I still don't know how good Nicanor is, but I'm beginning to believe Leparoux hates that horse, as he has now completely buried him twice in a row. You're right, Pezua couldn't be worse.

Admittedly, I do not watch a lot of racing from GP, but man, lately it seems like every time I watch a horse with Leparoux on it, he rides it like a complete moron.

By complete moron, I'm saying relative to other jocks.

The minute I saw Leparoux on Nicanor I just shook my head. Didn't even make sense to root for the horse to hit the board (which he was now all but certain not to do before the race even began) because you knew exactly how he was going to be ridden. He wasn't gonna be put on the lead and we all know what happens with Nicanor then. It was just a question of how far back in the field he was going to end up. So frustrating.

He is dreadful.

I think he may be a little short on earnings once all is said and done, but there will be a handful of horses currently in the top 20 that will not go to the Derby, whether it's common sense, injuries or something else.

Ok, I thought so, but he didn't seem to be so deadset on killing off anything with speed before.

There were a couple times at Saratoga where his horse would break on top and he would choke it to the back of the field.

Leparoux's GP meet was absolutely horrible, even though yesterday was obviously a highlight. These were his numbers:

321: 43-42-42 13.39% Win 39.56% ITM $1.24 ROI

Yeah. He broke beautifully with Indiano yesterday in a race where nobody really wanted the lead, and he shuffled him back. I wouldn't say he choked him, but any chance he had to win was gone.