What happened to Upstart? Waaaayyyyy behind anybody else…obviously he was eased, he alright?
AP answered a lot of questions. more remain, of course. I didn’t see much “belaboring” with the whip but he had it shown to him pretty good on both sides, the roar from 175k people can be distracting. Didn’t have much trouble grinding away at then putting away the others. Didn’t look exhausted either.
I know the final time wasn’t very impressive, but does anyone have the splits? Wondering how the last 1/4-1/8 compare to the first 1/4-1/8.
I think he might have been the one getting pinched out hard in that crush down the front stretch. I was worried about a crash or interference there.
Was a fun race to watch, and Espinoza was too funny after. I thought AP might not have enough but it seemed that it just took him a minute to adjust and realize he didn’t want to be behind. I was surprised to see how early and hard Espinoza went to the stick but it obviously worked today.
I did just dash this off to NBC.
“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t sent Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski to cover the Masters Golf or Wimbledon. How dare you insult the horse racing game by sending them to the Derby?”
What a fun race! Congrats to American Pharoah–he was my pick. My non-horsey mom was cheering on Firing Line because of Gary Stevens’s story, and wow, he ran a nice race. I was urging “Get you lead! Get your lead!” though, heh. :lol: So, Mom and I are both very happy with the results.
I also like seeing Frosted finish a respectable fourth; having gone through a major neurological disaster myself in the last year culminating in brain surgery, I was feeling for the trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. MS was something many of the docs suspected in me, and I loved that he said, “I have MS, but MS doesn’t have me.” WOOT.
And dude, Danzig Moon got the stuffing beat out (bounced off?) of him in the first turn–bad enough I rewound the race live to try and figure out who I saw getting pinballed. Quite impressed he managed to finish fifth!
[QUOTE=mommy peanut;8132941]
I know the final time wasn’t very impressive, but does anyone have the splits? Wondering how the last 1/4-1/8 compare to the first 1/4-1/8.[/QUOTE]
23 and change and 47 and change for the 1/4 and 1/2.
Very tepid fractions for a KY Derby. The speed, Materiality, got mugged at the start.
The track looked pretty cuppy though, so probably pretty tiring and hence no real closers (besides Frosted).
Madeline, that’s why I said it seems like the Derby has just become a big joke. Those two are horrible. It’s not just them but the whole thing is presented like a farce. Which is going to bite NBC and the horse industry big time if there’s ever an injury. The whole “hahaha isn’t horse racing ridiculous?” theme is going to backfire someday. Not saying it’s not fun and everybody should be a Solemn Simon, but the joke has gone more than far enough. I think it’s purposely presented to take the focus away from the horses as much as possible, probably because of the fear of dealing with a tragedy.
[QUOTE=Lauruffian;8132944]
And dude, Danzig Moon got the stuffing beat out (bounced off?) of him in the first turn–bad enough I rewound the race live to try and figure out who I saw getting pinballed. Quite impressed he managed to finish fifth![/QUOTE]
Yes!
Materiality too! Pretty game finish with that start!
[QUOTE=Lauruffian;8132944]
And dude, Danzig Moon got the stuffing beat out (bounced off?) of him in the first turn–bad enough I rewound the race live to try and figure out who I saw getting pinballed. Quite impressed he managed to finish fifth![/QUOTE]
Not that I actually bet, but I liked DM & was a bit bummed to see him being bounced all over the place. Happy he stuck with it for a respectable 5th place finish 
[QUOTE=yaya;8132918]
Wasn’t there a horse a few years ago that had a group of like 30 owners? Guess they had to draw the line somewhere.[/QUOTE]
There would probably have been about 60 people for Metaboss if he’d gone as if he were in the Derby, most of us would have come. Stupid bone bruise.
Agh, I needed Firing Line to run 1 or 3, not 2! Oh, well, payouts were crap anyway.
[QUOTE=Anne FS;8132951]
Madeline, that’s why I said it seems like the Derby has just become a big joke. Those two are horrible. It’s not just them but the whole thing is presented like a farce. Which is going to bite NBC and the horse industry big time if there’s ever an injury. The whole “hahaha isn’t horse racing ridiculous?” theme is going to backfire someday. Not saying it’s not fun and everybody should be a Solemn Simon, but the joke has gone more than far enough. I think it’s purposely presented to take the focus away from the horses as much as possible, probably because of the fear of dealing with a tragedy.[/QUOTE]
Either last year or the year before they had some dimwit starlet or recording artist waving at the the horses leaving the paddock for one of the undercard races gleefully calling out that old show biz saying “Break a leg”:eek:…does no one coach these people?
[QUOTE=Drvmb1ggl3;8132948]
23 and change and 47 and change for the 1/4 and 1/2.
Very tepid fractions for a KY Derby. The speed, Materiality, got mugged at the start.
The track looked pretty cuppy though, so probably pretty tiring and hence no real closers (besides Frosted).[/QUOTE]
I was more curious if they had picked up the pace the last 1/4-1/8 of the race due to the battling between FL & AP 
Lord, me too! When they broke from the gate and everyone was still on their feet a few strides out with no major bobbles, I was like, “OKay, they’re all okay.” Then they swarmed into that tight knot and I said, “Oh, god! Somebody’s going to crash!” Thank goodness they didn’t, though a lot of those babies got roughed up a bit in that mess.
Very happy for Baffert. He’s always been my favorite trainer. He’s got to be tickled.
[QUOTE=Madeline;8132943]
I did just dash this off to NBC.
“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t sent Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski to cover the Masters Golf or Wimbledon. How dare you insult the horse racing game by sending them to the Derby?”[/QUOTE]
A million thumbs up. I couldn’t believe they were back. Brutal.
Madeline - I hope nobody from NBC Sports reads this, it might give them ideas about places to send them. I can’t stand either Tara or Johnny, and they seem to be everywhere.
[QUOTE=Madeline;8132943]
I did just dash this off to NBC.
“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t sent Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski to cover the Masters Golf or Wimbledon. How dare you insult the horse racing game by sending them to the Derby?”[/QUOTE]
You are my hero.
[QUOTE=Madeline;8132943]
I did just dash this off to NBC.
“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t sent Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski to cover the Masters Golf or Wimbledon. How dare you insult the horse racing game by sending them to the Derby?”[/QUOTE]
Good for you! I wouldn’t mind Johnny Weird so much if he would just dress like the other men. Someone should have told him that the funny hats are for women!
I really think he is totally inappropriate to be representing NBC. And as you say, neither of these two is a horse person.
I am a figure skating fan, but I can’t stand Johnny and Tara at the Derby (or anywhere else that’s not skating). They talked to Justin Zayat and Kaleem Shah…I wonder if they had to settle for the owners because Bob Baffert wouldn’t let them get around the horses. :lol:
And for someone who is so concerned about fashion, I thought Johnny Weir’s outfit looked like pajamas.
They visited with some of the horses in one of the recorded segments. In their defense, both rode as teens, which is a lot more of a connection to horses than most of the TV folks have.
Watching in slow motion and entirely ignorant of racing I thought the track footing was too deep.
Looking for experts comments because I know the industry probably has a long line statistics about footing and it’s probably the best footing possible.
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