Bluegrass
 

Like drunken sailors leaving a bar at 3 in the morning...

lol, fun horse race to watch. I hope the top 5 go to the Derby, I imagine they will. Great Hunter had some major traffic...

I am going to go out on the limb and say Street Sense wins the Derby

Street Sense should be set for May 5th, each time he runs I become more of a fan

I don't have the foggiest clue what to do with any of these horses in three weeks. I am at a total loss.
My cat has as much chance of picking the Derby winner as I do this year.

I may throw every horse's name in a hat, draw 5, then box them and have a beer.. or two

pace couldn't have been much softer...those are turf fractions.

I learned absolutely nothing from this race.

Should create some value on him.This horse(S.S.) is by far the best this year.

i dont understand why randy and jerry bailey think this race will take too much out of Streen Sense. It wasnt that tough of a running in a slow time and on the poly.

I think that's how everyone feels.

Maybe HardSpun should have been there after all. Would like to have seen him leading with those fracs see if he could have held them off.

This is great for derby odds though.

That was a blast to watch at the end. I was so busy freaking out about Street Sense maybe getting up there and seeing Dominican flying that I didn't even notice what had happened with Great Hunter's traffic trouble. Wow. I still don't think he'd have won though.

Oh well that's it, Dominican's in the Derby. He got his money and a hard fought top 3. If he comes out of the race well he's in. I don't think the "duel" they refer to really was the real Street Sense. I think he got there by his natural class and guts but he'll be up for a better race in his next start which, oh yeah, is the Derby. I think I'm gonna have fun this year. If this is Street Sense's idea of a regression he should put on a show and there's a few others peaking at the right time.

I would not think this would be gutrenching for SS...what was the final quarter time?

Yep...total toss. Only thing that MAYBE someone can take from it is that Dominican closed well into some very soft fractions...or maybe his close was made to look better than it actually was...with weaving and bumping some of them were doing????

that Dominican was a pebbles throw through the shoal, on the fast going at Keenland

It looked to me like he changed course more than once as well.

when he set down to run, he gobbled up ground.

Mood...will have to watch the replay and focus more on him and his trip, but it did look like he was gaining ground rapidly.

Zanjero looked horrible on the rail... looked like he was running through water or something. I realize he finished 3rd, but I'm concerned about him getting 10 panels now... he looked really tired.

I think he revised that statement because of the soft fractions. SS ran hard only down the stretch.

I'm still waiting to get goosebumps over ANY Derby horse. Curlin's got the last chance.

you think if curlin romps today he has a shot at post time favorite? even with his 3 starts?

The rail has been an awful place to be this meet though. I came away somewhat impressed with Zanjero considering the rail trip.

good observation, should be a useful horse for assmussen running in the stakes out in the midwest occassionally taking on the big boys.

Thanks for the info... I was a bit concerned about how tired he looked. I need to rewatch this race...

Borel said he was trying to keep Street Sense in the path he'd been comfortable in but did that affect momentum in any way? I mean he was pushing at the end but still... If Dominican had had to go a little wider it could've affected the head bob right?

Turf to poly angle is dead on again Kevin. I hope a lot of people cashed on Silent Name, I scored some bucks on that one.

i think that was edgar who said that... talking about teufulsburg (sp?) when asked about his horse bearing out. i think borel was talking about ss lunging in on great hunter a couple times. and that may have contributed to the loss.

Don't worry.....no one else did either.

Dominican was a decent third to Tiz Wonderful and AGS at Churchill last fall. I don't think this race should take too much from SS as he only ran for about 2 1/2 furlongs.

And also watch the races from the rest of the meet to see how ridiculous the rail has been. Almost every winner is coming from farther back and in the middle of the track. This race actually made me go from not considering Zanjero at all to almost definitely at least including him on my tickets.

The 10th race winner came right up the rail. It feels to me like the situation is a bit of a self-fulfulling prophesy as everyone seems to be staying outside.

Regardless, this edition of the Blue Grass, and probably everyone from now on, offers absolutely nothing predictive.

I dunno I heard it on tv. I could've sworn Jerry said Borel...I didn't hear the interviews with the jocks. Maybe they misquoted or I misheard. I had a black snake get in through the attic before the race so I was half-thinking about that.

One thing I know I heard was yet another person (this time on Sportscenter) trying to say Too-flesberg instead of Toy-flesberg. It's been awhile since I took German but I'm pretty sure it's the latter. The commentators used to say it the other way and now they do it they way I figure it is.

ESPN.com has the replay of the stretch run up, I just watched it again, and saw what I originally thought I had seen. Tuefelsberg all over the friggin race track, causing Great Hunter to swerve and bump Street Sense, which is what cost him the race. Without Tuefelsberg's antics, Dominican does not win this race, in my opinion.

Interesting race to say the least How in the world was there atleast not a general inquiry into the stretch run. After watching the head on the stewards must have been watching the golf channel or something during the race.

Although it made no difference to my wagering, I sat there after the race waiting for them to take Teufelsberg down...never expected it to be official without an inquiry.

I had no wagering interest in the race either, but can't imagine why there was not an inquiry

it's toy, and it was prado who said about keeping his horse on a good path, not borel.

shame great hunter got cut off, twice. but the first did the damage, jock just saved him after that. lost the battle, will he win the war??

There was an inquiry, but no changes. I thought Nakatani said it best. He said it wasn't Prado's horse going out or Borel's horse lugging in, it was the slow fractions that caused it all. I think once he told that to the stewards it was a non issue.

My rookie analysis

THROW OUT THROW OUT THROW OUT RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, this was such a great tune-up for SS. I love the fact that he has been battled tested in his last two races. If he is able to run straight he wins this race by a neck. I like how SS is able to close into the fractions and be a little closer to the front. They finished up the race very well which is mis-leading because 3/4ths of the race was SLOW.

Great Hunter also ran a good race as well. I love his running style. I like how he can settle and then pounce. I really think he needed this race and I think he will be fit for the 1st Saturday in May.

I have a feeling the horses we saw today will make the most noise in the Derby.

I to think GH and SS will be major factors, but I think the horse that went on a little jog in Hot Springs today will be your favorite. He looked damn good.

There is no doubt that if a horse is good enough they can win on the rail. But for a week and a half now I've heard jockeys and trainers repeatedly say that the rail is not the place to be. Silent Name won on the lead but if you've been watching the meet, the lead is not the place of preference. Horses are winning on the inside and on the lead, but not as much as they should be. I've had a great meet playing these angles.