The blocking back
 

If this has already been discussed here, I apologize. Did anyone else have a problem with Geroux on the other Baffert in the Belmont? He basically ensured a slower pace while impacting horses such as tenfold and Bravazo and it appeared to be intentional.

In my opinion, it was shady at best especially when you consider the magnitude of the event. If the horse is good enough, why the tricks?

Are you serious? Are you asserting there was a foul of some kind? If not, it is just racing.

Not a foul per se. It was obvious the 5 had a mission. It was just bush league in my opinion. If justify is best, why would he need such tactics?

Eric Wing Tweeted about this blog post from 2 years ago.


https://blog.horsetourneys.com/2016/...n-stakes-race/

If Justify's not best, they'll be able to catch him. Oh wait, they couldn't. Noble Indy couldn't go fast enough to get up there. He was welcome to try to get a better position and didn't manage it. Restoring Hope kept them from pulling a Smarty and the fair race was run.

Ask tenfold or Bravazo if the race was fair.

I think Bravazo got forced to the rail where he didnt want to be, otherwise I think the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. That race was over when Justify broke alert and Javy didnt send with Noble. He was already a length back of Justify by the time Geroux did whatever the hell that was. If Flo wanted to run more significant interference, he couldve floated a few wide on the turn. I think this is a molehill being turned into a mountain. Gronk, Vino and even Bravazo all took a shot at him and just couldn't get him.

What I don’t get is this: It’s not like it was a huge surprise that Restoring Hope might do something like this. So none of the other horses/jockeys anticipated it and adjusted their strategy accordingly? Bravazo had enough position to run a suicide mission and press the pace but why would he do that? That style has failed him in all the big races.

The way I see it, the only horses RH really impacted were Tenfold (who got pinched between RH and NI at the beginning of the race) and Noble Indy, who may have only been in the race to try to press the pace. To the extent he impeded Tenfold, I’ve already mentioned in the “Tenfold” thread that it is extremely unlikely it made a difference for Justify. To the extent he impeded Noble Indy, it seems like a fair counterstrategy.

Javy said after the race that he didnt have enough to press the pace.
The bottom line is, there wasnt one horse that was fast enough the 3 TC races to stay with Justify and or soften him up for the rest of the field. The one horse that did stay with him was Promises Fulfilled who came back to run huge in the Woody Stephens. At the end of the day, the best horse won the TC.

I’d throw some praise to Good Magic as well. Heck of a horse and softened Justify up in the Preakness but still not enough.

I think Good Magic is a very nice horse, but I really think Smith knew that Good Magic was the only horse that could beat him in Maryland and once he put him away he took his foot of the gas and tried to save something for the Belmont. He was under wraps late in the race.

Given what has transpired since, you’re probably right. Bravazo had to put up a very strong finish just to lose by a half length. In retrospect, the win was more comfortable than the charts may seem to indicate.

Maybe some people should go to the petting zoo instead of the racetrack.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...610-story.html

Here is an article with comments from, John Velasquez, Mike Repole and Wayne Lucas, that seems to confirm that the blocking occurred, but Lucas said he didn't think it changed the outcome of the race.

I just think its funny that Repole who wanted Javy to try to duel Justify into the ground to set it up for Vino, is complaining about another trainers possible tactics in the race.

While none of us can say whether it changed the outcome of the race, it was pretty clear to me is that Geroux was not riding to win the race. I found the comments from Restoring Hope's owner, Gary West, that he has no idea what Geroux was thinking or what his strategy was and that the ride for the first 1/8 of a mile resembled more of a quarter horse race than the 1 1/2 mile Belmont very interesting.

Having said that, trainers and owners have been using two horses to help set up another horse for as long as horses have been racing and nothing should take away from the tremendous accomplishment by Justify to be a worthy Triple Crown champion.

Not sure if it would have mattered but Florent def had other intentions than winning the race-watch the NBC broadcast again--after the race Mike Smith was pointing and yelling to Florent, "you're the man!" Why does Mike think Florent is the man after that race?

Speaking of West, I wonder if we will see any Justify-Actress foals. That could be something special.

Ya it was pretty clear Restoring Hope wasn't in it to win it and Im sure owner wasn't thrilled on that ride. That being said this is really overblown with the blocking comments. Bravazo got pined on rail somewhat and tenfold had to go back as hope squeezed him with more speed at the start. Other then that there really wasn't much blocking in my opinion. Vino Russo had every opportunity and just wasn't fast enough. Gronkowski was very good and surprised me a lot. Justify is just faster than the group that ran Saturday. I hope he runs in the Travers and we get a better mix of horses so we can see a great balanced race.

Well, I guess we can all look forward to more great races from the great triple crown champion, Justify and I do not say that with sarcasm. Really, the most shocking thing about the race to me and probably a host of others was Gronkowski. Who knew that horses come over here from Europe and frequently run well on first time Lasix? :rolleyes: Just one of the myriad lessons that horse racing offers that I repeatedly fail to learn.:(