It was pretty cool.
I only watched online, but I’ll be there for the Arkansas Derby and hope some of these come back. Just commented on the Triple Crown thread.
Omaha Beach and Game Winner looked good. Improbable didn’t, at least not to me.
To be fair to Improbable, he had a wide post and was raced 4-wide on both turns. Race might have turned out differently if he’d had a slightly better trip.
Really liked how Omaha Beach looked. Hand ride until late in the stretch.
Wonder what direction Baffert will take with both Improbably and Game Winner.
To me, both Baffert horses looked like they needed a race.
I wonder how that could have happened…
I missed all but the Azeri, where Midnight Bisou won under a good ride from M.Smith.
That is a very game mare.
I agree, I also wonder how much training they missed.
So Baffert is taking them both back to Santa Anita. Pointing Improbable to the Arkansas Derby, and Game Winner to the Santa Anita Derby. Assuming there is a Santa Anita Derby.
I’m guessing they both had a little break at the end of last year. (Game Winner’s last previous race was on Nov. 2nd, Improbable’s was on Dec. 8) Then they would have gone back into training.
The thing was though, Baffert had them both ready to run at Santa Anita–which he expected they would do. At SA, they would have gotten a small, easy, field and a race in their own backyard. The only competition the two of them would have had was each other.
At Oaklawn, it was a whole new ballgame.
SA has posted a revised Stakes schedule pending approval from the CHRB to reopen March 29.
Santa Anita Derby isn’t on the list so I am assuming (often risky in life) that it will be on its original date.
Yes, at SA would have been smaller fields and also no travel.
When SA stopped racing, many trainers had to rethink their plans. I’m sure Baffert wasn’t happy to have to ship to Arkansas. I suspect he’s also not happy his gems didn’t do as well as he had hoped.
Time will tell.
I love to watch Improbable gallop in training. His big, sweeping, commanding stride is like that we saw with AP and even Secretariat. Not many horses can move like that. Not even Game Winner moves like that
I am not surprised by the results this weekend; thought they both ran good races but the winners just tried harder. It will be interesting to see if this took something out of either of these horses with the Derby about 6-7 weeks away
I like Improbable a lot but I think if he doesn’t do well in the Derby, we are going to see a much better older horse.
Midnight Bisou, I have always loved her. Hard trying mare. She is coming into her own now!
If anybody else trained those two, everybody would be praising two good, honest races just a nickel short by just barely 3 year olds tuning up for a serious Derby campaign. And with one complicated by racing luck right out of the gate and 4 wide around both turns. Neither quit or gave up, they kept coming. I’m with Laurie, they needed the race. Omaha Beach was impressive with a very clean trip.
I enjoy that FoxSports2 telecast of the Derby preps plus a few other races from 3 or 4 tracks coupled in a national Pick Five wager. No celebrities, no talking just to talk when nothing happening. The first race in the program, from Aqueduct, featured quite the cluster loading into the gate, With half iof them loaded, one got rank upsetting the rest then another freaked out behind the gate, going up and over, jock rolled free, horse was unsaddled and scratched, others backed out and reloaded. Then a few strides after the break, one stumbled. lost it’s rider ( might have been stepped on by the inside horse, couldn’t tell but that rider stood up and looked down). Glad I didn’t have a horse in that smallish field anyway that lost two before they got 50 yards from the gate. Riderless horse was obviously unhurt as he galloped out very soundly all the way to the wire but at least one other horse noticeably lost focus. Wasn’t exactly entertaining to watch but it sure wasn’t routine.
My favorite race of the day was Midnight Bisou. Wow, what a run, and those ears when that hole opened up ahead of her, " Can I go, can I go, please let’s go". Good looking mare too, wow, even got the WC pose for the picture down to perfection. What a Pro.
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Omaha Beach couldn’t have had a better break and controlled the pace the whole way.
I’m not going to hop off the Game Winner train at this point, you gotta be a real race horse to beat him.
