Steppenwolfer
 

Anyone see his turf race?

Did he look any good?

He looked good.. Gomez however, did not. Was a late arriving 2nd after Gomez steadied, checked and checked again before getting him room to run.

Embarassingly bad effort by Gomez. Could have swung wide off the turn and mowed them down..

Good to hear that he had some run in him. Maybe he will be a decent weed clipper.

I certainly hope so... I liked this horse a lot last year.

I actually bet him.

It was a Gomez special. He clearly would have won with anything resembling a clean trip. Not much of a field however and if they considered this a prep for a possible try in the Manhattan he hardly showed he's of that caliber.

Thanks for the info... that's too bad. He's kind of a plodder, but I was hoping they'd be able to find some decent spots for him.

I'm not sure it was most troubled trip I have ever seen but Gomez steadied on the turn and was just shut-off when Rock Lobster moved in mid-stretch. Late arriving is a great way of putting it Steve.

But as far as finding trouble, Gomez looked like he has been studying the James Graham book for jockeys.

You would think that Gomez' intructions were to keep this long striding colt in the clear for the stretch run.But like we see everyday in grass racing, the jockeys ride the turf "cute', saving ground and splitting horses. I can honestly say i dont bet many turf races because of the troubled trips, and false paces. Agree with the boys, he was the best horse today..

He's having an incredible year. You couldn't have a better year than he's had so far this year. He has a large lead in the national standings. I think he's riding great this year.

But even the best will mess a few up. He certainly butchered Steppenwolfer today. There's no doubt about that.

He's obviously a good rider but he seems a bit out of sync at Belmont on the turf right now. He butchered a Violette maiden in the 6th race on Saturday as well.

Take a look at the race....the horse has the rail in a turf sprint.

Yes, he checked sharply in that race going down the backstretch. I don't think it was his fault though. I think that other horse came in on him pretty bad. That horse might have gotten disqualified for that if he would have finished in the money.

He actually steadied the horse sharply on two different occasions on the backstretch and then stopped trying. Did you watch the head on?

I say the first was absolutely his fault, as he had room, and rode indecisively which is obviously a bad thing to do when inside on the backstretch. The second was just further indecision or lack of competitive desire.

I see the Steppenwolfer ride a little different than most on here. While it wasn't a smooth trip by any means, part of that is just racing luck, it happens.

But when people say that all he had to do was keep to the outside, in the clear and he's an easy winner? I'm not so sure about that. Yes he would have avoided the stretch check-up when he got pinched, but it would have cost him lengths also swinging outside, and he didn't lose by a nose or anything. I missed the part where he had an easy clear shot to go outside that wouldn't have taken him very wide.

He finished well enough so I understand why its easy to automatically assume that the trip cost him the race. Let's just say his run once he got clear did not blow me away. He just looked like he was grinding away at the leaders. I wasn't sold.

I don't totally disagree, Jim, except that if he got clear he was a certain winner....however he would have won with a perfect trip. He was victimized and it was Gomez's fault for perhaps being too cute but he also saved ground, which has some real importance, and was more unlucky than anything else. It is not the kind of trip I would bet him back out of.

His ride Saturday was his fault and pathetic.

The ride on Saturday, which horse are you referrring to?

The horse on the rail in the 6th...Eff Jaa Gee.

I haven't seen the head-on yet. I'll check later and see if any of the replay websites have the head-on.

Cal Racing should.

So you're saying you wouldn't bet Steppenwolfer off that race? It looked to me like he was real game getting up for 2nd when he did get clear.

When is the last time he actually won a race?

I think it's exactly the kind of situation people get themselves in trouble with. First of all, what kind of price will he be next time? What are the chances it's is as weak a field? Hell, Sabre Baby, the ultimate perfect trip suck-up, won the race.

To me, Steppenwolfer is the classic trap/bad trip people fall for. They see a horse that should have won, but fail to realize his winning would have been with the benefit of a perfect trip against a questionable field, and somehow over elevate his performance.

What Gomez usually tries to do is save ground around the turn and then swing out at the top of the lane. In the Steppenwolfer race, he really couldn't swing out because he had a horse outside of him. So I don't know if it was his fault or not. If a jock rides enough races on come-from-behinders, he is going to get in trouble sometimes no matter how good he is. Even though we all realize this, we still expect a jock to get through and win if he's on the best horse. But realistically, they are going to find trouble once in a while and get beat. I guess the bottom line is that the good jocks get in trouble and blow the race much less often than the bad ones.

Oh man! I watched that race because I think Dahoss had mentioned that horse in the selection area. As I recall he was on the rail and although I didn't re-watch the race I remember thinking "oh god what a brutal ride".
Didn't realize it was Gomez.

I just watched the Steppenwolfer replay again ( I'm thinking of using it for the " Hidden Horse " later today ) and actually think Gomez did in fact make two specific blunders. He could have angled out late in the turn, thus losing very little ground, and forced himself closer to the horse outside of him but giving the horse a chance to squeeze through and he further exacerbated this error by over commiting to the spot once in the stretch. Once he realized his error it was too late and the winner had gotten away. Since Steppenwolfer easily moved forward once given clear space, and didn't chicken out, he clearly cost the horse a victory.

It was poor judgement. He tried to do what he thought was right but it was a blunder. Riding often involves a lot of split second decisions and the best riders make the most correct choices in these circumstances. Gomez probably usually does....but this time he didn't.

Next.

Steppenwolfer was lusting for the big W and looked like the best in that race.

I didn't think that Sabre Baby ran bad at all against English Channel, however, at first glance, it appears that in his last race he basically sucks up inside and doesn't really run in the stretch, while Rock Lobster has a wide trip and runs better in the lane. A closer look, however, reveals that SB was stuck behind horses the length of the stretch in the GP race.

It was then a little bit interesting that Rock Lobster (and, to a certain extent, Steppenwolfer) gets a perfect drafting trip while SB is outside and breaking wind the entire race. Rock Lobster also seemed to lack a bit of room in the stretch but didn't do much running when he finally got clear.

What's a bit hard to take on the turf (at Belmont) these days is that all the jocks are riding as if they were at Saratoga or Aqueduct. They're all trying to save ground inside and hoping to find room when they enter the stretch. Channing Hill is particular guilty of this and has blown at least 2 rides ---in one of which, he was lucky to not get killed.

WTF, this is Belmont, and especially on the wider turf, having a clear, wide run in the lane is the way to go.

TFM,

Great post.. So right. Just again now in the BEL 6th.. C. Hill on Ubillio's #2 and Edgar on Matz' #9 (to a lesser extent).. Goes around covered up the entire way and never get a chance to really make a bid. Odd way to attack a race.