[QUOTE=Sarah616;7561619]
Do the horses get to bring their own ponies? Or are the ponies assigned ahead of time? I just noticed that most of them were decked out matching the silks of the horse they were ponying.[/QUOTE]
Some use their own stable ponies, the rest are freelance pony riders that work for the trainers. Every pony person knows who they are taking as soon as the entries come out.
Commanding Curve won me all my money back.
Samraat, aw, poor boy, jockey let him blow his load too early otherwise he would have been placed higher than 5th. Got me a bit excited there for a moment!
Glad to see California Chrome win, he’s a looker! And I love the donkey on the silks, it’s adorable and cheeky.
But, the jock standing up and celebrating four strides before crossing the wire makes me want to shake him and smack him. It’s not over until it’s over!
Just saw this - Perfect Drift was California Chrome’s pony!
[QUOTE=sparky6;7561637]
As far as the Tara and Johnny bits-part of me likes them. They’re funny, but the other part of me wishes they’d treat the event like a sport. There’s no Super Bowl red carpet nonsense. But those two paints they rode off on were cute![/QUOTE]
At least they are athletes and not brain dead minor celebs like the one last year who said the traditional show biz “break a leg” as her pick walked by in the paddock…:no:. Fortunately it didn’t.
[QUOTE=Zevida;7561645]
But, the jock standing up and celebrating four strides before crossing the wire makes me want to shake him and smack him. It’s not over until it’s over![/QUOTE]
Oh, come on. When you have your Derby horse, you can tell the jock how to ride it.
Anyway, I made a nice 40 percent ROI on my Cali Chrome wagers… He looked like a beast just walking over, you could tell it was his day.
[QUOTE=findeight;7561663]
At least they are athletes and not brain dead minor celebs like the one last year who said the traditional show biz “break a leg” as her pick walked by in the paddock…:no:. Fortunately it didn’t.[/QUOTE]
Yikes…
[QUOTE=Tha Ridge;7561667]
Oh, come on. When you have your Derby horse, you can tell the jock how to ride it.
.[/QUOTE]
This ^^
I have to add, my family thought it was too funny to see Uncle Sigh leading the pack for as long as he did. Cue all the jokes about running out of iced tea. 
[QUOTE=Tha Ridge;7561667]
Oh, come on. When you have your Derby horse, you can tell the jock how to ride it.[/QUOTE]
I can’t believe it doesn’t make anyone else’s heart skip a beat! I don’t mind when they ease off when the race is clearly in hand but standing up before the wire makes me so nervous!
[QUOTE=sparky6;7561637]
As far as the Tara and Johnny bits-part of me likes them. They’re funny, but the other part of me wishes they’d treat the event like a sport. There’s no Super Bowl red carpet nonsense. But those two paints they rode off on were cute![/QUOTE]
I set the DVR on “pause” early in the day. That way I was able to skip through all of the celebridiot coverage. There seemed to be an awful lot of it, no surprise.
[QUOTE=Mara;7561843]
I set the DVR on “pause” early in the day. That way I was able to skip through all of the celebridiot coverage. There seemed to be an awful lot of it, no surprise.[/QUOTE]
I had it set to record at 4 and was an hour behind when I got home. Backed it up to the beginning. Watched just the “real” horse people. Skipped over the celebs and hats, watched Johnny and Tara for about 15 seconds. OK, they ride. And caught up. 60 minutes of intro done in about 8 minutes. :lol:
And I hadn’t paid much attention in recent years to Victor Espinoza - but he watched California Chrome in a replay as a 2yo, and asked his agent to see if he could work on riding him.
Then, “Espinoza broke down in tears when he talked about visiting children with cancer at the City of Hope in Los Angeles. The jockey said he donates 10 percent of all his earnings to the hospital.”
Let the Triple Crown races continue to shine with a scandal-free, feel-good story!
[QUOTE=CVPeg;7562116]
And I hadn’t paid much attention in recent years to Victor Espinoza - but he watched California Chrome in a replay as a 2yo, and asked his agent to see if he could work on riding him.
Then, “Espinoza broke down in tears when he talked about visiting children with cancer at the City of Hope in Los Angeles. The jockey said he donates 10 percent of all his earnings to the hospital.”
Let the Triple Crown races continue to shine with a scandal-free, feel-good story![/QUOTE]
WOW. Did not know that re the jockey. What a beautiful thing
Fabulous horse, great race, ( I love the jock but his celebration before the finish made me cringe too --horses do stumble duck etc. )
What a much needed wonderful day!
The Swaps connection is kind of cool for those why are of a certain age and grew up in So Cal. Anybody who worked for Rex Ellsworth/Mish Tenney and survived truly came up via the school of hard knocks. Lets just say they were…ah…minimalists in horse care and not much better in the treatment of the large number of humans who went through their breeding and training farm out in Chino back in the day. They ran farrier and jockey schools, that way they didn’t have to pay for those services. It was one way to break into the business for some, a not so pleasant experience for others.
Gotta say, as I watched the NBC coverage and saw the pros all bet against California Chrome, I was reminded of Affirmed in his bid for the Triple Crown. No matter how good he was, he just couldn’t get the respect that was his due.
I don’t know whether California Chrome will break the drought, but he was my pick for the Derby and will be my pick for the Preakness.
I have two questions: Why would the pros have bet against California Chrome
second: one of the owners referred to people thinking he was crazy for breeding an $8000 mare to a $2500 stallion (stud fee I assume?), but he mentioned that he saw something in the breeding that others missed.
any idea what it might have been? Has the owner ever said anything more?
[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;7562279]
I have two questions: Why would the pros have bet against California Chrome
second: one of the owners referred to people thinking he was crazy for breeding an $8000 mare to a $2500 stallion (stud fee I assume?), but he mentioned that he saw something in the breeding that others missed.
any idea what it might have been? Has the owner ever said anything more?[/QUOTE]
They’ve said that they studied pedigrees and they went on a feeling.
If you looked at the list of picks right before the Derby by NBC folks, I believe the only racing expert who picked CC was Pincay.
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