What was up with Quality Road's braid beed?

[The Indomitable DrugS]

What about the race Musket Man ran?

He was really taken out of his game - and rushed the whole way - had to race wider on both turns than QR did and still managed to finish as well as a perfect trip QR.

Before looking at any figures - I was befuddled by how well MM ran. If Haynesfield and QR hook up early in a pace battle .. and Musket Man is in the garden spot a few lengths off of it with first run on Blame .. than it's he and Blame who are in a thriller and QR winds up a very soundly beaten 3rd.

Instead - Quality Road ended up with the candy trip - and Musket Man, a horse who doesn't have a ton of natural speed is having his ears ridden off while two paths wider through the first turn, just to put whatever kind of minimal early pressure on QR that he could ... cause Ramon Dominguez opted to apply none on Haynesfield.

QR was clearly 3rd best today IMO.

[herkhorse]

A closer inspection reveals it was a tiny, but very heavy weight.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

It's amazing that Velazquez didn't say anything about the braid bead in the post race ...

Quality Road ran six furlongs in 1:11.92 and appeared to be holding Musket Man and Haynesfield at bay. But coming into the stretch, Velazquez said he was “in trouble” because he felt Quality Road was “just going through the motions.”

“He was never grabbing into the bridle, which was strange for him,” Velazquez said

While you were looking every which way but straight ahead .. your horse was getting slapped in the eye over and over by a plastic rock while going almost 40MPH.

[Revidere]

Didn't bother him in the Met

[randallscott35]

It only bothers him in routes. Obviously

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Revidere

Didn't bother him in the Met

That looks like a rubber band type tie instead of a big plastic ball - and his hair seems a lot shorter where it can't reach his eyeball there.

This silly stuff is an area where I shouldn't bother with - but again, maybe it wouldn't bother a horse to have a plastic ball hitting his eye over and over while he runs... but I know it would bother a human big time.

If that didn't bother Quality Road .. he ran an absolutely disgraceful race today - and Musket Man is without question the better horse off of that performance.

[the_fat_man]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

e.

If that didn't bother Quality Road .. he ran an absolutely disgraceful race today - and Musket Man is without question the better horse off of that performance.

Clearly, MM didn't get the best of trips, with Dominguez not keeping his end of the bargain. But how does MM's race in the Whitney, off the poor trip, fit in with his perfect trip in the Met? Wasn't he 'chasing' slow fractions today? And, wasn't he also the 3rd best horse going into the race?

Is it harder to chase slow fractions than to pass 2 horses that have set them?

[The Indomitable DrugS]

I thought Musket Man had a total dream trip in the Met Mile - and I gave him no chance today.

When Dominguez didn't hold up his end of the bargain - and Ravij started riding the ears off of Musket Man and was a couple paths wider the entire way around the first turn ... I would have bet anything that he was going to run like total ratsh!t. He was basically totally sacrfacing his horse in an effort to put what minimal pace pressure on QR he could muster.

QR's race today was just breathtakingly bad. I know the pace wasn't quite as slow as it might seem because the track was a little more deep and tiring than par ... but he had the race handed to him on a golden platter and still couldn't outfinish an insanely poorly ridden Musket Man.

I thought Blame had the better trip than Musket Man. I thought Quality Road had the much better trip than Blame.