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Originally Posted by RolloTomasi
Perfect Drift did not check at any point in the race. He moved inside entering the far turn, waited briefly entering the stretch, there was plenty of room inside Mast Track straightening up and his jock angled to the rail, grinded past that rival and Espinoza appeared to stand up the final yards at best because Hyperbaric put him away for 3rd money or at worst because he didn't like what he felt late. Certainly he didn't stand up because Ever A Friend (2 lengths in front of him) was blocking his path.
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It was very slight, be he did slightly check turning into the stretch. In addition, he really didn't have anywhere to go going into the far turn. Victor was just sitting him waiting to find some room rather than gunning him and running up on heels.
He did have some room from the 1/8th pole to just passed the 1/16th pole but not a ton of room. But that final 100 yards, he didn't have anywhere to go. Victor stood up late for two reasons. He wasn't going to get third and he didn't want to run up on Ever a Friend's heels.
If you watch the head-on, you will see that things were tighter than they looked on the pan shot.
Overall, I'm not saying that the horse had a ton of trouble, but I think he had at least 1 length of trouble and possibly more. He only got beat for 2nd by 1 1/4 lengths.
I'm sure the connections are thrilled with the way he ran. The horse looks like he still has some run left in him.