How frustrating
 

two races in a row that Teammate has been reeled in by Pine Island............I'm also pretty satisfied, though. This may have been Teammate's best race, given that she showed an ability to rate and pounce........she just couldn't hold off a very good filly. Also, I guess she was just in bad form earlier at Belmont, since she didn't seem to have any problems today. I hope this girl is not pointed for the Breeder's Cup - she could win another graded stakes (without Pine Island) if she keeps running like this. Good job by Jerkens getting this filly back to her best form. I'm surprised.

Pine Island is just gorgeous. Fires everytime. Has never gone backwards on the sheets. What a great filly.

Right now, I'm too frustrated to think about Pine Island, lol. I can't complain, though. All you can hope for is that your horse run his or her best.......and that's what Teammate did. She's been showing some moxie lately.....something I didn't think she had. At least that was a satisfying effort -Bushfire didn't show anything today.

I tell u whats fustrating I went out with this beautiful girl and some friends last night :( and we all went back to my house and her friend was being a total #### blocker thats FUSTRATING

i was hollering grind away at pine island, and she did. she's fun to watch, and i'm thrilled at her progression...i pointed at her going past the wire and told my daughter 'there's your distaff winner'.

I like Pine Island but she looks like an anteater when she runs.

but coming in first looks great!

How could anyone not love Pine Island? This filly handles EVERYTHING that's thrown at her. I agree about her being the Distaff winner, although it's probably gonna be a deep field and there's a few that scare me.

Teammate ran great. That pace was pretty quick too. If she would have been another 2-3 lengths further back, she might have been able to hold off Pine Island. As it was she tried to fight back, but she didn't have quite enough left after being a little too close to that failry hot pace. If Bushfire was not in the race, Teammate would have had an easy lead in :47 3/5 or so. I think she would have had a good chance of holding off Pine Island.

I remember two other terrific fillies who had the same head-down style ... Quill and Super Staff ...

... especially Super Staff who looked like she was grazing as she buzzed along over the lawn.

Pine Island has really been brought along beautifully by Shug ... congratulations to both of them!

A.P. Indy ran with his head very low. I think he held his head lower than Pine Island.

But ...

... did he look like an anteater?

it's the way the Euro's run for the most part. I like it too, she looks like a determined, well...Pine Island. :D

He did; Eddie D once said something to the effect like he had all he could do to hold on to Indy, his head was so low! Up until a few months ago, I still had the Blood Horse edition from his Belmont - I think Penny Chenery said that Indy reminded her of Secretariat in the way that they ran......not surprising, given that Indy's broodmare sire is Big Red.

I also thought that Teammate had a bad start, which didn't help her any - I assumed she was going to the lead. Maybe this helped her anyway, for the future, at least. If she can rate kindly, she'll win more races.

The older fillies aren't that great - Pine Island has a great shot. I'm not a fan of the filly, but I can not be unhappy about any Phipps horse winning.

Like her 'aunt' Pleasant Home and so many others of Phipps breeding, Pine Island appreciates a test of stamina and a long stretch in which to make her run. Her low head carriage may make it easier to balance herself with those huge strides of hers.

She's a gorgeous filly with some of the best breeding around... she will be a great second to my Balletto in the Distaff. :p

Exactly. Its all about the field. Pine Island benifitted greatly having Bushfire and Teammate running tough fractions. Without Bushfire, who knows.

It depends on how the horse is built. For a horse who is built like Pine Island, if she puts her head up in the air, it will shorten her stride because it hollows out her back. A low head carriage doesn't necessarily equate to a longer stride. Length of stride depends on their motor (hock and hip), length of the back, and their shoulder angle. I like Thoroughbreds who hold there heads slightly above their withers while running like Afleet Alex and Bernardini. I personally do not like how Pine Island runs or how she is built. I hold my breath everytime I watch her run and thank God that she makes it off the track. Horses that are built like her are prime candidates for serious breakdowns and soundness issues. She has too much weight on her front end and is built too downhill for me. Her neck sets in too low into her chest. Most horses naturally carry around 60% of their weight on their front end. Well, Pine Island definitely carries more than that. She is a very big mare too. It scares me. I love her though, and think that she is very brillant. I hope to God I am wrong about her, but I would give her a good chance of having serious soundness problems. One thing going for her is that she is a grinder and she runs about the same pace throughout the race. She doesn't have an explosive turn of foot. Although, I can't see her legs very good while she is running, she also looks to have a very good colume of bone too. These two factors may be enough to compensate for her being so heavy on her front end.

It does in track...and horses have 2 more legs,lol