Put me in the minority but I still don't think that the rider did wrong on Hard Spun in the Preakness. The horse would have had no shot if he was only a couple of lengths in front of the top two at the top of the stretch. His only shot, IMO, was to open up when he did and hope that he had put enough ground between himself and the top two. Unfortunately for them, those other two are just that much better. As Jones said, he just ran 4/5ths off of a track record. There was nothing wrong with his race, IMO. He just was third best behind two really good ones, the same place that he likely would have been had Curlin had a better trip in the Derby. I felt like that was the time for Pino to go. I felt that at that point, if he goes, he makes the riders of SS and Curlin make a decision, maybe take something out of their late punch by forcing them to move earlier. Maybe it was the wrong move but I felt that it was the only choice he had. He wasn't going to outrun them in the lane and he needed a cushion heading into the stretch.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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