Slots are in at Gulfstream

[philcski]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Discreet Cat is pretty good. Sharp Humor? He's OK.

He could have a decent 2007 if properly spotted. His return was decent but let's not get carried away.

7F feels like about his limit against anybody reasonable.

Interesting, because I thought his career best race was on the stretchout in the Fla Derby. Granted it was a speed-favoring track but he was beat about 3 times in the stretch and wouldn't let Barbaro go by until the shadow of the wire... I'm a fan of horses that show guts and he's done that on mulitple occasions.

His return was acceptable. Gold and Roses is OK, a G3 type, but he should have beat him.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by philcski

Interesting, because I thought his career best race was on the stretchout in the Fla Derby. Granted it was a speed-favoring track but he was beat about 3 times in the stretch and wouldn't let Barbaro go by until the shadow of the wire... I'm a fan of horses that show guts and he's done that on mulitple occasions.

His return was acceptable. Gold and Roses is OK, a G3 type, but he should have beat him.

I'm always leery of the first stretch out by a sprinter. I find that is usually the best effort they will have going long. Add that to the fact that he dictated the pace on a speed favoring track and save Barbaro there was little in the way of competition in the race and it's hard to be overly enthusiastic about his performance. On the other hand, he still lost a close one to a very good horse. However, it was hardly Barbaro's best race.

All in all, Sharp Humor's return was encouraging, as there's nothing wrong with Gold and Roses. From what I've heard they are not going into 2007 with the intention of throwing him to the wolves. Sounds like a good plan.....we'll see if they stick to it.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I'm always leery of the first stretch out by a sprinter. I find that is usually the best effort they will have going long. Add that to the fact that he dictated the pace on a speed favoring track and save Barbaro there was little in the way of competition in the race and it's hard to be overly enthusiastic about his performance. On the other hand, he still lost a close one to a very good horse. However, it was hardly Barbaro's best race.

All in all, Sharp Humor's return was encouraging, as there's nothing wrong with Gold and Roses. From what I've heard they are not going into 2007 with the intention of throwing him to the wolves. Sounds like a good plan.....we'll see if they stick to it.

I'd like to test your theory, however to agree with your idea the most successful stretchout angle to me is the maiden sprinter who stretches out for the first time, suddenly they find themselves all alone on the front end for the first time and run a career top. Next time in tougher company, not the same scenario as invariably someone beats them to the first call or the pace is significantly stronger.

Throwing SH to the wolves, or G and R?

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by philcski

Throwing SH to the wolves, or G and R?

Sharp Humor.

I sort of like a horse who stretches out for the first time who should speed while sprinting. I really like the horse if there is no other speed in the race.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I'm always leery of the first stretch out by a sprinter. I find that is usually the best effort they will have going long. Add that to the fact that he dictated the pace on a speed favoring track and save Barbaro there was little in the way of competition in the race and it's hard to be overly enthusiastic about his performance. On the other hand, he still lost a close one to a very good horse. However, it was hardly Barbaro's best race.

All in all, Sharp Humor's return was encouraging, as there's nothing wrong with Gold and Roses. From what I've heard they are not going into 2007 with the intention of throwing him to the wolves. Sounds like a good plan.....we'll see if they stick to it.

I pretty much agree with everything Philcski's written about SH in this thread. btwind, what makes you say the Fla Derby was "hardly Barbaro's best race"? I suspect you are using circular reasoning: something like, 'He had trouble getting by the nothing special SH, therefore, it wasn't Barbaro's "A" race.'

We shall see. If the odds are good enough, I won't hesitate to bet on SH.

--Dunbar

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

I pretty much agree with everything Philcski's written about SH in this thread. btwind, what makes you say the Fla Derby was "hardly Barbaro's best race"? I suspect you are using circular reasoning: something like, 'He had trouble getting by the nothing special SH, therefore, it wasn't Barbaro's "A" race.'

We shall see. If the odds are good enough, I won't hesitate to bet on SH.

--Dunbar

No, it wasn't a particularly " fast " race. The only race he ran in, that he finished, where he may have run worse was the Holy Bull, which was in the mud.

I'm sorry, which race do you think he ran that was so much worse? To me he was a better turf horse than dirt horse, and relatively speaking his 2YO turf races were more impressive than his Florida Derby win and, and feel free to disagree with this, I thought his Kentucky Derby was better than his Florida Derby. You know, he only ran a total of seven races.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

No, it wasn't a particularly " fast " race. The only race he ran in, that he finished, where he may have run worse was the Holy Bull, which was in the mud.

I'm sorry, which race do you think he ran that was so much worse? To me he was a better turf horse than dirt horse, and relatively speaking his 2YO turf races were more impressive than his Florida Derby win and, and feel free to disagree with this, I thought his Kentucky Derby was better than his Florida Derby. You know, he only ran a total of seven races.

Fair enough, btwind. I'll just say I'm skeptical of attempts to label a race as 'not trying' or 'toying with competition'. I realize you are not saying either of those. As far as "fast", I thought the BSF compared well with Barbaro's other races, but I could be remembering that wrong.

I actually started reading this thread because of the "slots are in at Gulfstream" title, before getting distracted by mention of one of my fav current horses, Sharp Humor.

The savvy folks at vpFREE (a Yahoo group focussed on video poker) have looked at the Gulfstream video poker offerings and pronounced them "terrible". The payoff tables are apparently extremely poor from the players' perspective. This isn't too surprising--it's what often happens when there is little competition. The average gambler will lose at a rate 2-4% faster than they would in many Las Vegas or Atlantic City casinos. That fig is for video poker, but I suspect the same holds true for the mindless slots, too.

--Dunbar

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

I pretty much agree with everything Philcski's written about SH in this thread. btwind, what makes you say the Fla Derby was "hardly Barbaro's best race"? I suspect you are using circular reasoning: something like, 'He had trouble getting by the nothing special SH, therefore, it wasn't Barbaro's "A" race.'

We shall see. If the odds are good enough, I won't hesitate to bet on SH.

--Dunbar

BTW can answer for himself but I have an opinion on it. Watching Barbaro in that race I got the impression that they were trying to use him at the minimum required level to win the race in order to leave as much in the tank for the derby as possible. I think they didn't anticipate SH getting so stubborn on the rail. What I saw was less than an all our effort from Barbaro.
To me the derby pretty much confirmed this in my eyes.
With that said, I still thought it was a great effort that day by SH.