If you had a Derby horse...
 

... right now and know what you do about who has which mount at this point? Who would you try to get?

Name one jockey you'd be okay with and one you wouldn't use under any circumstance.

Corey Nakatani id be ok with, hes probably the best rider in form now in America. He is schooling everyone all over the East Coast, from New York to Hot Springs.

Mike Smith never ever use in a million years, I just dont like the guy and his riding style. One of those people you just dislike for some no good reason, and hes one of those people for me.

I would ride Mike Smith. Best in the business. I'm not a fan of Bejarano.

Jose Lezcano, Junior Alvarado, Paco Lopez all would do.

I would bring Jerry Bailey back

Oh God please change the wording before you get slaughtered.

Would anyone like to think they might give someone a shot... say, Alonso Quinonez?

I get slaughtered daily. I'm ok with it. Mike Smith is a legend. Great guy as well.

I know you do and you handle yourself very well.

I mean it.

Maylan Studart

Attachment 1965

No love for Garrett Gomez?

He already picked up the ride on the Sunland Derby winner.

willie shoemaker

F the Derby. If my horse has enough earnings to get in, I'd just go ahead and retire him to stud.

Really? :eek:

lol
i didn't know i was still living on the east coast!!

Gomez and Johnny V.....

I might see if Bejarano is willing to jump ship from Secret Circle.

Might be stinging just a bit about not riding Bodemeister.

I'm thinking what looked like a pretty useless thread just may get interesting.

This is why I'm a fan of you sir.

Hey Vic, have you updated your life insurance lately?

I know he f.ucked about 10 guys in Tampa a couple of months ago with a stellar ride. :rolleyes:

To be fair Matt, the entire bolded portion is not completely delusional, the East Coast, New York and Hot Springs are actual real locations.

bejarano chose to stay with secret circle for the ark. derby, i'm pretty sure he knew that meant he wouldn't have bodemeister as well. the decision had to be made sooner or later. why would he ditch that horse, and bob, for another?

I'm not saying he would. The thread was who do you think might be available that's really good this late in the game.

You're stating some things as fact that I can only speculate on. If in fact Bejarano chose Secret Circle over Bode, which could very well be true, then only he and his agent are kicking themseleves now.

As for ditching Bob. For this one race THE KENTUCKY DERBY, loyalties go completely out the window. Jocks and agents try to WIN THE RACE at all cost with little regard to hurt feelings after the fact. Javier Castellano might be able to speak to that.

So you're saying that jockeys and agents ignore the big picture in an effort to find the best possible mount? That's perfectly reasonable. But if that's so, then didn't Castellano kind of do the opposite of that?

I don't think so, necessarily. He may have thought Algorithms was better than Union Rags.

I'd sell the horse and count my money.

I don't know if the majority of them do this but I was listening to Gary Stevens not too long ago and he basically said what Vic said.

I didn't question what Vic said as being accurate, I questioned his comparison to Javier Castellano's situation. I'm of the opinion that opting off of Union Rags had everything to do with Todd Pletcher. I could easily be wrong, but I don't think Javier wanted to lose the ground that he has gained in that barn.

Gotcha.

No doubt.

I'd say you're probably correct, with the possible caveat being that he may have felt it was a gamble worth taking given Algorithm's potential and the likelihood that Gemologist was his for the taking also. Of course, both of those horses are Pletcher's. So maybe I'm arguing both sides here.

Right, it was more of the Pletcher brigade than one particular horse. He could have been relatively high on El Padrino at the time he made the decision to go against Union Rags. He also knew that Algorithms was very good at the time and Gemologist was yet to make his 3YO debut. Clearly, Castellano has worked his way into Pletcher's barn and it's paying off in a big way. I think you do your best to maintain the loyalty rather than step outside the box. Isn't this what prompted Gomez to choose Pioneerof the Nile over Dunkirk 3 yrs ago?

since they named mike when they did, and it said in the article i read that bejerano would stay on SC, i'm figuring he had the choice...and that smith would get whichever he didn't go with. that said, i don't think bejerano would move to a different trainers horses, considering that SC has as decent a shot as some of the others. i don't see a legit contender to leave bob and the horse for...but it is all just for fun anyway to guess in this thread.

and sure, jocks want to win the race-but i doubt an up and comer would leap off a potential gravy train of a big stable with a derby mount to go to another horse-such as union rags vs riding a horse (and maybe a lot more in future) for pletcher.

I'm not sure what he's said off-the-record, but I thought he tried to pick the best horse for the Derby and went with POTN.

That's irrelevant. JV can ride for anyone. He's basicley first call for Shug and he will ride a lot for Pletcher still.

Pioneer was better. He proved it Derby day.

Yes he did. Yes he did. Damn you Mine That Bird.