7/14: Belmont Park (4th-9th)

[the_fat_man]

Originally Posted by Kasept

8th: NY-OC/C, F&M-3+, 1m-T (DD)

Most Likely: #1 Paraiba 3-1
Next Best: #2 Cagey Girl 9-5
Best Value: #4 Our Golden Dream 5-1

Interesting situation with Paraiba. IMO, she's a very nice turf filly (and has always been) but has difficultly putting in sustained runs because she has footwork issues. I.E. she doesn't like to get hit and changes leads repeatedly when she is. Johnny V butchered her a number of times early until he finally understood this and he now rides her the best. You wonder, however, if DONK understands this. He sends her to DEL last out for that mini stake and she was the only horse to close in a race that didn't come back. She ran extremely well under the circumstances. But she was all over the place in the stretch, changing leads back and forth, and running in spurts, as Saez was beating on her. I suppose that DONK didn't tell him to use the whip as little as possible. Kind of defeats the point of shipping her there. (Not that Prado rode her any better 2 races back.)